Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca7-15-01815/USCOURTS-ca7-15-01815-0/pdf.json

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

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United States Court of Appeals 

For the Seventh Circuit

Chicago, Illinois 60604

Submitted August 25, 2015*

Decided August 25, 2015

Before

RICHARD D. CUDAHY, Circuit Judge

MICHAEL S. KANNE, Circuit Judge

DAVID F. HAMILTON, Circuit Judge

No. 15‐1815

JOSEPH LEE BELL, JR.,

Plaintiff‐Appellant,

v.

LAURA GRAMLING PEREZ and   

KELLI MURPHY,

Defendants‐Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District

Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

No. 15‐cv‐268‐pp

Pamela Pepper,

Judge.

O R D E R

Joseph Bell, a Wisconsin resident, appeals the dismissal of his complaint, which

vaguely asserts irregularities in connection with a state court’s denial of a DNA blood

test to establish paternity. The district court dismissed the complaint for lack of

subject‐matter jurisdiction. We affirm.   

                                                 

* The appellees were not served with process in the district court and are not

participating in this appeal. After examining the appellant’s brief and the record, we

have concluded that this case is appropriate for summary disposition. See FED. R. APP.

P. 34(a)(2).   

NONPRECEDENTIAL DISPOSITION

To be cited only in accordance with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1

Case: 15-1815 Document: 12 Filed: 08/25/2015 Pages: 2
No. 15‐1815    Page 2

As set forth in his complaint, Bell believes that he is the father of a daughter

whom, for unexplained reasons, the two defendants collaborated to put up for adoption.

Bell twice filed a request for DNA testing in Wisconsin state court. The state court’s

decision to deny both requests, Bell says, violated his equal‐protection and due‐process

rights.   

The district court screened the complaint, see 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B), and

dismissed it because Bell had not alleged a basis for either diversity or federal‐question

jurisdiction. Bell, the court added, “clear[ly and] . . . strongly disagrees with something

that happened to him in Milwaukee County Circuit Court” and should seek relief in

Wisconsin state courts.   

On appeal Bell maintains that he is entitled to a DNA test to prove paternity as

well as visitation rights to see his daughter. But he fails to develop this argument,

see FED. R. APP. P. 28(a)(8), let alone explain why his requests are not barred by the

Rooker‐Feldman doctrine, which strips lower federal courts of jurisdiction to review

state‐court civil judgments, see D.C. Court of Appeals v. Feldman, 460 U.S. 462, 486–87

(1983); Rooker v. Fid. Trust Co., 263 U.S. 413, 415–16 (1923). Bell seems to be unhappy with

the state court’s denial of his requests for DNA testing, but challenges to state‐court child

custody and visitation decisions are barred by Rooker‐Feldman. See, e.g, Struck v. Cook

Cnty. Pub. Guardian, 508 F.3d 858, 859–60 (7th Cir. 2007); T.Q. v. Brophy, 124 F.3d 893, 898

(7th Cir. 1997).

AFFIRMED.   

Case: 15-1815 Document: 12 Filed: 08/25/2015 Pages: 2