Case: 14-13087 Date Filed: 02/20/2015 Page: 1 of 6
[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
________________________
No. 14-13087
Non-Argument Calendar
________________________
D.C. Docket No. 8:11-cv-00377-MSS-TBM
BERNARD F. CAMPBELL,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
versus
SECRETARY OF DEPARTMENT OF
VETERANS ADMINISTRATION,
Defendant-Appellee.
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Florida
________________________
(February 20, 2015)
Before ED CARNES, Chief Judge, MARCUS and BLACK, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Case: 14-13087 Date Filed: 02/20/2015 Page: 2 of 6
Bernard F. Campbell, proceeding pro se, appeals the district court’s denial of
his Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(d)(3) motion for relief from judgment in his
employment discrimination case. Campbell contends that the judgment against
him should be vacated because of judge-perpetrated fraud on the court. Campbell
also contends for the first time on appeal that the district judge erred by not sua
sponte disqualifying herself from ruling on his Rule 60(d)(3) motion.
In 2011 Campbell filed a pro se lawsuit against his former employer, the
Department of Veteran Affairs, alleging race discrimination, gender
discrimination, religious discrimination, and retaliation under Title VII of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964. Following discovery, the VA moved for summary judgment
and the district court granted the motion. Campbell appealed and we affirmed.
See Campbell v. Shinseki, 546 F. App’x 874 (11th Cir. 2013) (unpublished).
Applying de novo review, we concluded that the VA had given legitimate,
nondiscriminatory reasons for terminating Campbell and that Campbell had not
presented any evidence that the VA’s reasons were pretext for discrimination. Id.
at 876–78.
Campbell returned to district court and filed a post-judgment motion
pursuant to Rule 60(d)(3), which permits a court to “set aside a judgment for fraud
on the court.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(d)(3). He argued that the district judge, along
with the three judges on this Court who affirmed the district court’s judgment,
2
Case: 14-13087 Date Filed: 02/20/2015 Page: 3 of 6
defrauded the court by ignoring his evidence, failing to consider his arguments,
and preventing his case from going to a jury. Campbell did not ask the district
judge to disqualify herself from deciding his motion. Finding no evidence of fraud
on the court, the district court denied Campbell’s motion. This is his appeal.
Campbell’s contends that the district court abused its discretion by
denying his Rule 60(d)(3) motion.1 A party who seeks relief from judgment on the
basis of fraud must establish the fraud by clear and convincing evidence. Booker
v. Dugger, 825 F.2d 281, 283 (11th Cir. 1987). “Conclusory averments of the
existence of fraud made on information and belief and unaccompanied by a
statement of clear and convincing probative facts which support such belief do not
serve to raise the issue of the existence of fraud.” Id. at 283–84 (alterations and
quotation marks omitted); see also Rozier v. Ford Motor Co., 573 F.2d 1332, 1338
(5th Cir. 1978) (“Generally speaking, only the most egregious misconduct, such as
bribery of a judge or members of a jury, or the fabrication of evidence by a party in
which an attorney is implicated, will constitute a fraud on the court.”). 2
1
We review a district court’s denial of a Rule 60(b)(3) motion for an abuse of discretion.
Cox Nuclear Pharmacy, Inc. v. CTI, Inc., 478 F.3d 1303, 1314 (11th Cir. 2007). Like a Rule
60(d)(3) motion, a Rule 60(b)(3) motion deals with fraud on the court. We therefore apply the
same abuse of discretion standard to Campbell’s Rule 60(d)(3) motion.
2
In Bonner v. City of Prichard, 661 F.2d 1206, 1209 (11th Cir. 1981) (en banc), we adopted
as binding precedent all decisions of the former Fifth Circuit handed down before October 1,
1981.
3
Case: 14-13087 Date Filed: 02/20/2015 Page: 4 of 6
Campbell’s allegations of judicial misconduct are the very definition of
“conclusory averments . . . [that] do not serve to raise the issue of the existence of
fraud.” Booker, 825 F.2d at 283–84. Any “facts” offered in support of Campbell’s
belief that the district judge conspired with the three judges on this Court to
commit fraud on the court are allegations that go to the merits of his employment
discrimination claims, not to the issue of fraud. In other words, Campbell’s motion
is a misguided effort to relitigate claims already raised and rejected. As the
district court correctly observed, a Rule 60(d)(3) motion is not a proper vehicle to
seek review of this Court’s final judgment affirming the district court’s judgment
against him. The denial of Campbell’s motion was not an abuse of discretion.
Campbell also contends that the district judge committed plain error by
failing to sua sponte recuse herself under 28 U.S.C. § 455 because, as a named
participant in the alleged fraud, she had “constructive notice of a conflict of
interest.” 3 Although a judge must disqualify herself in any proceeding in which
her impartiality might reasonably be questioned or where she actually has a
personal bias or prejudice against a party, see 28 U.S.C. § 455(a) and (b)(1), it is
well established that neither “judicial rulings” nor “opinions . . . as a result of what
[a judge] learned in earlier proceedings,” standing alone, constitute a valid basis
for bias or prejudice. Liteky v. United States, 510 U.S. 540, 551, 555, 114 S. Ct.
3
Campbell concedes that he did not move for recusal; therefore, our review is for plain error.
Hamm v. Members of Bd. of Regents, 708 F.2d 647, 651 (11th Cir. 1983).
4
Case: 14-13087 Date Filed: 02/20/2015 Page: 5 of 6
1147, 1155, 1157 (1994). Instead, “[t]he bias or prejudice must be personal and
extrajudicial; it must derive from something other than that which the judge
learned by participating in the case.” United States v. Amedeo, 487 F.3d 823, 828
(11th Cir. 2007) (quotation marks omitted); Bolin v. Story, 225 F.3d 1234, 1239
(11th Cir. 2000) (“[I]t is well settled that the allegation of bias must show that the
bias is personal as distinguished from judicial in nature.”) (quotation marks
omitted).
Here, Campbell presented no evidence that the district judge was influenced
by any personal or extrajudicial bias. Campbell’s only arguments pertaining to
impartiality or bias stem from the earlier rulings in this case. Adverse rulings,
without some evidence of improper influence, do not constitute bias. Liteky, 510
U.S. at 555, 114 S. Ct. at 1157; Hamm, 708 F.2d at 651. The district judge’s
failure to disqualify herself from ruling on Campbell’s post-judgment motion was
not error, much less plain error.
Finally, Campbell’s motion to disqualify Judge Stanley Marcus from hearing
the present appeal is DENIED. 4 Campbell’s baseless contention that Judge
Marcus should be disqualified because he exercised “intellectual dishonesty and
improper analysis” in affirming the district court’s judgment on Campbell’s
4
Campbell also moved to disqualify Judges Hull and Jordan. Because neither Judge Hull nor
Judge Jordan are serving on this panel, those motions are DENIED AS MOOT.
5
Case: 14-13087 Date Filed: 02/20/2015 Page: 6 of 6
employment discrimination claims is a far cry from the type of extrajudicial bias
that warrants even the consideration of disqualification.
AFFIRMED.
6