Jones v. Lee County Department of Human and Veteran Services

Filing 15

ORDER denying 13 motion for recusal. Signed by Judge John E. Steele on 2/20/2018. (RKR)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
FORT MYERS DIVISION
DONALD JONES,
Plaintiff,
v.

Case No:

2:17-cv-427-FtM-29CM

LEE COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF
HUMAN AND VETERAN SERVICES,
Defendant.
ORDER
This matter comes before the Court on plaintiff's Motion for
Judge Steele to “Rescue” Himself (Doc. #13) filed on February 13,
2018,

seeking

to

presiding judge.
was

dismissed

have

the

undersigned

recuse

himself

as

the

Plaintiff alleges bias because his previous case
by

the

undersigned

after

amendments to assert federal jurisdiction.

requiring

several

See Jones v. Bank of

Am., 2:12-cv-642-FTM-29DNF (M.D. Fla) (Steele, J.).
On

October

12,

2017,

the

Magistrate

Judge

reviewed

plaintiff’s Affidavit of Indigency (Doc. #3) and also reviewed the
sufficiency of the complaint.

Both were found deficient and

plaintiff was provided detailed instructions on what to correct in
the affidavit, and how to file an amended complaint.
Plaintiff appealed the Order to the undersigned.

(Doc. #8.)

On October 24,

2017, the Court denied plaintiff’s appeal and directed plaintiff
to comply with the October 12, 2017, Order or the case would be

dismissed for failure to prosecute.

(Doc. #10.)

Plaintiff filed

an amended affidavit, and the Magistrate Judge found that plaintiff
was indeed indigent.

However, as no amended complaint was filed,

plaintiff was provided additional time to do so.

(Doc. #12.)

Plaintiff filed an Amended Complaint (Doc. #14) on February 16,
2018.

This pleading is pending review.

Plaintiff argues that requiring him to amend his complaint
repeatedly in this case constitutes harassment.

“Any justice,

judge, or magistrate judge of the United States shall disqualify
himself

in

any

proceeding

reasonably be questioned.”

in

which

his

impartiality

28 U.S.C. § 455(a).

might

“The inquiry of

whether a judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned
under § 455(a) is an objective standard designed to promote the
public’s confidence in the impartiality and integrity of the
judicial process. [ ] Thus, the court looks to the perspective of
a reasonable observer who is informed of all the surrounding facts
and circumstances.”

In re Evergreen Sec., Ltd., 570 F.3d 1257,

1263 (11th Cir. 2009) (internal citations omitted) (emphasis in
original).

Adverse rulings are rarely grounds for recusal.

In

re Walker, 532 F.3d 1304, 1311 (11th Cir. 2008) (citing Liteky v.
United States, 510 U.S. 540, 554 (1994)).
Judge

has

been

reviewing

the

Thus far, the Magistrate

sufficiency

allegations and directing the amendments.

of

plaintiff’s

The Court finds that

the undersigned’s impartiality cannot be questioned after review

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of the docket.

The Amended Complaint does appear to suffer from

the same deficiencies.

The Court will await further review by the

Magistrate Judge.
Accordingly, it is hereby
ORDERED:
Plaintiff's Motion for Judge Steele to “Rescue” Himself (Doc.
#13) is DENIED.
DONE and ORDERED at Fort Myers, Florida, this
of February, 2018.

Copies:
Plaintiff

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20th

day