Raphael Mendez v. Warden L. LaRiva

United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________ No. 18-2118 ___________________________ Raphael Mendez lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellant v. 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Court for the District of Minnesota - Minneapolis ____________ Submitted: October 3, 2018 Filed: October 9, 2018 [Unpublished] ____________ Before KELLY, ERICKSON, and GRASZ, Circuit Judges.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. -2-