Raphael Mendez v. Warden L. LaRiva

Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit · Oct 9, 2018

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United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________

No. 18-2118 ___________________________

Raphael Mendez

lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellant

Warden L. LaRiva; Supervisory Attorney K. Lundy; Unknown Inmate Legal Mail Room Servers

lllllllllllllllllllllDefendants - Appellees ____________

Appeal from United States District Court for the District of Minnesota - Minneapolis ____________

Submitted: October 3, 2018 Filed: October 9, 2018 [Unpublished] ____________

Before KELLY, ERICKSON, and GRASZ, Circuit Judges. ____________

PER CURIAM.

Federal civil detainee Raphael Mendez appeals following the district court’s1 adverse grant of summary judgment in his pro se civil rights action, claiming the district court judge and magistrate were biased against him. After careful review, we conclude that Mendez’s claim of judicial bias lacks merit. See In re Steward, 828 F.3d 672, 682 (8th Cir. 2016) (judges are presumed to be impartial; party seeking disqualification bears substantial burden of proving otherwise). Accordingly, we affirm. See 8th Cir. R. 47B. ______________________________

1 The Honorable Ann D. Montgomery, United States District Judge for the District of Minnesota, adopting the report and recommendations of the Honorable Becky R. Thorson, United States Magistrate Judge for the District of Minnesota.

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