Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca7-09-03421/USCOURTS-ca7-09-03421-0/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 440
Nature of Suit: Other Civil Rights
Cause of Action: 

---

*

After examining the briefs and the record, we have concluded that oral argument is

unnecessary.  Thus, the appeal is submitted on the briefs and the record.  See FED. R. APP. P.

34(a)(2).

United States Court of Appeals

For the Seventh Circuit

Chicago, Illinois 60604

Submitted May 25, 2010*

Decided May 26, 2010

Before

WILLIAM J. BAUER, Circuit Judge

MICHAEL S. KANNE, Circuit Judge

ILANA DIAMOND ROVNER, Circuit Judge

No. 09‐3421

AMIEL CUETO,

Plaintiff‐Appellant,

v.

ROBERT THOMAS, et al.,

Defendants‐Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District

Court for the Southern District of Illinois.

No. 08‐0868‐DRH

David R. Herndon,

Chief Judge.

O R D E R

Amiel Cueto, a lawyer who was disbarred in 2004, sued the justices of the Supreme

Court of Illinois and an officer of the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary

Commission under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for violations of his due‐process right to fair and

NONPRECEDENTIAL DISPOSITION

To be cited only in accordance with

Fed. R. App. P. 32.1

NONPRECEDENTIAL DISPOSITION

To be cited only in accordance with

Fed. R. App. P. 32.1

Case: 09-3421 Document: 30 Filed: 05/26/2010 Pages: 3
No. 09‐3421 Page 2

impartial proceedings.  The district court dismissed his complaint, finding his claims

against the justices barred by the Rooker‐Feldman doctrine and his claim against the ARDC

officer barred by the applicable statute of limitations.  Cueto appeals, and we affirm the

district court’s decision.

Cueto’s disbarment stemmed from his attempt to hide a client’s illegal gambling

operation from federal investigators, for which he was convicted of conspiracy to defraud

the United States, 18 U.S.C. § 371, and obstruction of justice, 18 U.S.C. § 1503.  We upheld

these convictions in United States v. Cueto, 151 F.3d 620, 624 (7th Cir. 1998).  Because of his

criminal conduct, Cueto was suspended from practice in 1998 and disbarred in 2004.  In

2008 he moved to vacate the disbarment order, and when the Supreme Court of Illinois

denied his motion, he turned to federal court.

Cueto’s complaint alleges three sets of due‐process violations.  First, Cueto claims

that the justices refused in the disbarment proceedings to provide him with discovery,

precise notice of his alleged misconduct, and other procedural safeguards.  Second, Cueto

claims that the ARDC officer falsely testified as an expert witness in the criminal trial and

thereby tainted both the federal prosecution and the state disbarment.  Third, Cueto tacks

on a claim that is unrelated to his disbarment—that the justices sabotaged his defamation

suits against two Illinois newspapers by assigning the cases to trial judges who would be

biased against him.

The district court applied the Rooker‐Feldman doctrine and dismissed both of Cueto’s

claims against the justices.  Under Rooker‐Feldman, federal district courts lack jurisdiction to

entertain suits brought by state‐court losers to undo state‐court judgments.  See Exxon Mobil

Corp. v. Saudi Basic Indus. Corp., 544 U.S. 280, 283‐84 (2005); District of Columbia Ct. of App. v.

Feldman, 460 U.S. 462 (1983); Rooker v. Fidelity Trust Co., 263 U.S. 413 (1923).  The district

court concluded that Rooker‐Feldman barred it from reviewing state‐court judgments such as

the disbarment order and the supervisory orders regarding case assignments in the

defamation suits.  The district court also dismissed Cueto’s claim against the ARDC officer

as untimely under Illinois’s two‐year statute of limitations for personal injuries, 735 ILCS

5/13‐202 (he sued in 2008 but alleges that his claim accrued in 2004).

On appeal Cueto re‐argues the merits of his claims but pays little attention to the

Rooker‐Feldman issue.  He asserts only that the district court erred in applying the Rooker‐

Feldman doctrine because his claims are somehow “independent” of the judgments against

him, and thus his claims can be resolved without undoing any state‐court decision.  But the

gravamen of Cueto’s complaint is that the state Supreme Court’s orders violated his rights,

the disbarment order should be vacated, and the supervisory orders in his defamation trials

should be nullified.  He has not asserted any injury independent of the Supreme Court of

Case: 09-3421 Document: 30 Filed: 05/26/2010 Pages: 3
No. 09‐3421 Page 3

Illinois’s disbarment proceedings or supervisory orders.  He has therefore impermissibly

attacked the state‐court judgments in federal court, and such attacks are barred by Rooker‐

Feldman.  See Gilbert v. Ill. State Bd. of Educ., 591 F.3d 896, 900 (7th Cir. 2010); Levin v. ARDC,

74 F.3d 763, 767 (7th Cir. 1996).

As to his damages claim against the ARDC officer, Cueto argues that the district

court erred by applying a two‐year statute of limitations for personal injuries, 735 ILCS

5/13‐202, rather than a five‐year “catch‐all” statute, 735 ILCS 5/13‐205.  He reasons that his

claim is not for a “personal injury” because he alleges pecuniary losses rather than bodily or

psychological harm.  We have repeatedly stated, however, that the statute of limitations for

§ 1983 claims in Illinois is two years, not five.  See, e.g., Dominguez v. Hendley, 545 F.3d 585,

588 (7th Cir. 2008), cert. denied, 129 S. Ct. 2381 (2009); Kalimara v. Ill. Dep’t of Corr., 879 F.2d

276 (7th Cir. 1989).  Cueto’s complaint, filed four years after his claim accrued, was

untimely.

For the foregoing reasons, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.

Case: 09-3421 Document: 30 Filed: 05/26/2010 Pages: 3