2008 Decisions

Opinions of the United

States Court of Appeals

for the Third Circuit

10-3-2008

Christ v. Vora

Precedential or Non-Precedential: Non-Precedential

Docket No. 07-3541

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Recommended Citation

"Christ v. Vora" (2008). 2008 Decisions. Paper 416.

http://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/thirdcircuit_2008/416
 NOT PRECEDENTIAL

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT

___________

No. 07-3541

___________

SGT. B. CHRIST

v.

DR. CHANDAN S. VORA,

 Appellant

____________________________________

On Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Western District of Pennsylvania

D.C. Civil Action No. 07-cv-0177

(Honorable Gustave Diamond)

____________________________________

Submitted Under Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a)

September 24, 2008

Before: SCIRICA, Chief Judge, HARDIMAN and COWEN, Circuit Judges

(Filed: October 3, 2008)

___________

OPINION OF THE COURT

___________

PER CURIAM.

Dr. Chandan S. Vora appeals pro se the orders of the United States District Court

for the Western District of Pennsylvania (i) dismissing pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §

1915(e)(2)(B) her “petition for removal” of police citations/summonses and trial notices
2

for summary offenses and (ii) denying her motion to vacate. We have jurisdiction over

this appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We will affirm.

In July 2007, Dr. Chandan Vora filed a “petition for removal” seeking to remove a

police citation and related summons charging Vora with disorderly conduct, and trial

notices in a summary case involving three traffic citations and one citation for scattering

rubbish. She claimed that Sergeant B. Christ, of the City of Johnstown Police

Department, and other city officials discriminated against her on account of her religious

and ethnic background by issuing allegedly baseless and unconstitutional citations for

summary offenses and traffic violations. By order entered July 23, 2007, the District

Court dismissed the action. The District Court concluded that the removal petition sought

to attack state proceedings over which it had no jurisdiction and that the petition

otherwise failed to state a claim. Vora filed a “motion for injunction,” which the District

Court construed as a motion to vacate and denied. This timely appeal followed.

Upon thorough review of Vora’s District Court pleadings, notice of appeal, and

informal brief, we conclude that the District Court correctly dismissed her removal

petition for lack of jurisdiction and correctly denied her motion to vacate. As she has

done before, Vora petitioned for removal under the civil rights removal statute, 28 U.S.C.

§ 1443. This time, she alleges that Sergeant Christ trumped up charges against her. The

civil rights removal statute applies only to the removal of state court proceedings. Id.;

See also 28 U.S.C. § 1447(a). Here, the citations, summons, and trial notices pertain to
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summary proceedings before a district justice; they are not state court criminal

proceedings. Assuming arguendo that the civil rights removal statute applies to Vora’s

proceedings before a district justice, her rambling, generalized, and unsupported

allegations do not meet the specific criterion for § 1443 removal. See City of Greenwood

v. Peacock, 384 U.S. 808, 827 (1966); Ronan v. Stone, 396 F.2d 502, 503 (1 Cir. 1968). st

For the foregoing reasons, we will affirm the District Court’s judgment.