Opinion ID: 533852
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Effect of the Rooker-Feldman Doctrine

Text: 10 In Rooker v. Fidelity Trust Co., 263 U.S. 413, 44 S.Ct. 149, 68 L.Ed. 362 (1923), the Supreme Court held that a federal district court may not review the final decisions of a state court of competent jurisdiction. Such review rests solely in the United States Supreme Court. The Supreme Court reaffirmed this principle in District of Columbia Court of Appeals v. Feldman, 460 U.S. 462, 482 & n. 16, 103 S.Ct. 1303, 1315 & n. 16, 75 L.Ed.2d 206 (1983). The Feldman Court stated, 11 [L]ower federal courts possess no power whatever to sit in direct review of state court decisions. If the constitutional claims presented to a United States district court are inextricably intertwined with the state court's denial [of a claim] in a judicial proceeding ... then the district court is in essence being called on to review the state-court decision. This the district court may not do. 12 Id. at 483-84 n. 16, 103 S.Ct. at 1315-16 n. 16. In Wood v. Orange County, 715 F.2d 1543 (11th Cir.1983), this Court held that under the Rooker- Feldman doctrine, federal district courts may not decide federal issues that are inextricably intertwined with a state court's judgment. This is true even if the plaintiff failed to raise the federal issue in the state court. Id. at 1546. 4 13 In this case, the Liedels' complaint requested that the federal district court enjoin the Juvenile Court from enforcing all of its prior orders in the child custody proceedings. This would effectively nullify those state orders, which became final after the Liedels' petition for writ of certiorari was denied by the Alabama Supreme Court. 5 The Liedels base their claims on the same allegations of deprivation of Elizabeth and Ronald's constitutional rights that the Liedels argued and lost in the Alabama state court proceedings. In fact, Ronald expressed the same objections that he raises here in the motion to alter, amend, and vacate judgment that he submitted to the Juvenile Court on February 10, 1988. Moreover, he based his petition for writ of mandamus to the Alabama appellate courts on the same allegations of deprivation of due process that he raises in his federal court complaint. Elizabeth also had the opportunity to raise in the state courts the constitutional objections that form the basis of her federal court complaint. Thus, the Liedels did have an opportunity to raise in the Alabama courts the constitutional objections that form the basis of their federal suit. To the extent that the Liedels' federal court complaint seeks to challenge the final state court judgment, it must be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction under the Rooker- Feldman doctrine. Staley v. Ledbetter, 837 F.2d 1016, 1017-18 (11th Cir.1988); Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maryland v. Weiner, 868 F.2d 1550, 1555 (11th Cir.1989).