Opinion ID: 737406
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: jurisdiction

Text: 13 Because the federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction, we must first satisfy ourselves that we have jurisdiction over this appeal and cross-appeal.
14 The CYS defendants contend that the district court lacked jurisdiction to entertain Ernst's suit under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine, which prohibits federal courts from exercising subject matter jurisdiction to review final adjudications of a state's highest court or to evaluate constitutional claims that are 'inextricably intertwined with the state court's [decision] in a judicial proceeding.'  FOCUS v. Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, 75 F.3d 834, 840 (quoting Blake v. Papadakos, 953 F.2d 68, 71 (3d Cir.1992) (alteration in original); District of Columbia Ct. of Appeals v. Feldman, 460 U.S. 462, 483 n. 16, 103 S.Ct. 1303, 1315-16 n. 16, 75 L.Ed.2d 206 (1983)). According to the CYS defendants, the Rooker-Feldman doctrine precluded the district court from hearing Ernst's § 1983 claims because to decide those claims required the court to determine whether the state courts correctly adjudicated Susanne a dependent. We disagree, and find Rooker-Feldman inapplicable here. 15 The Rooker-Feldman doctrine is based on the statutory provision that grants the Supreme Court jurisdiction to review the decisions of the highest state courts for compliance with the Constitution. See 28 U.S.C. § 1257. Because this jurisdiction is reserved exclusively to the Supreme Court, it is improper for federal district courts to exercise jurisdiction over a case that is the functional equivalent of an appeal from a state court judgment. See Rooker v. Fidelity Trust Co., 263 U.S. 413, 415-16, 44 S.Ct. 149, 150, 68 L.Ed. 362 (1923). As this court recently explained: 16 When a plaintiff seeks to litigate a claim in a federal court, the existence of a state court judgment in another case bars the federal proceeding under Rooker-Feldman only when entertaining the federal court claim would be the equivalent of an appellate review of that order. For that reason, Rooker-Feldman applies only when in order to grant the federal plaintiff the relief sought, the federal court must determine that the state court judgment was erroneously entered or must take action that would render that judgment ineffectual. 17 FOCUS, 75 F.3d at 840 (citations omitted). Those circumstances are not present here. 18 Although Ernst's Third Amended Complaint sought her appointment as Susanne's legal guardian, which was the relief that she had been unable to obtain in the state courts, that portion of the complaint was mooted when the state court returned Susanne to Ernst's custody. Thus, the district court was left to decide only Ernst's § 1983 claims for damages, which were grounded primarily in her allegations that the defendants violated her right to substantive due process when they formulated and made recommendations to the state court regarding Susanne's dependency. The Rooker-Feldman doctrine did not preclude the district court from deciding those claims because a ruling that the defendants violated Ernst's right to substantive due process by making recommendations to the state court out of malice or personal bias would not have required the court to find that the state court judgments made on the basis of those recommendations were erroneous. 19 Moreover, it is clear that deciding the substantive due process claims did not involve federal court review of a state court decision because Ernst's substantive due process claims were never decided by the state court. Although Ernst mentioned her concerns about bias on the part of the CYS defendants during the dependency proceedings, she did not articulate those concerns in constitutional due process terms. Neither did--or could--the state court base any decision regarding Susanne's dependency on a determination that Ernst's claims of bias or improper motive were invalid. Cf. Valenti v. Mitchell, 962 F.2d 288, 296 (3d Cir.1992) (holding that a party cannot escape Rooker-Feldman by raising a new constitutional theory in federal court unless the party lacked a realistic opportunity to fully and fairly litigate the constitutional claim in the state court proceeding); Centifanti v. Nix, 865 F.2d 1422, 1433 (3d Cir.1989). A dependency adjudication involves a determination that a child is without proper parental care or control, 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 6302; In the Interest of J.M., 438 Pa.Super. 409, 652 A.2d 877, 880 (1995), and subsequent decisions regarding custody and placement are made on the basis of the best interests of the child. 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 6351; In the Interest of Laura Sweeney, 393 Pa.Super. 437, 574 A.2d 690, 691 (1990). Neither an adjudication of dependency nor a determination of the appropriate disposition of a dependent child is based on the intentions or states of mind of the party seeking the dependency adjudication. Therefore, a finding that the CYS defendants violated Ernst's right to substantive due process would not have involved the invalidation of any conclusion or judgment reached by the state court. 4 Accordingly, the Rooker-Feldman doctrine did not preclude the court from exercising jurisdiction over Ernst's substantive due process claims against the CYS defendants. We have jurisdiction over the appeal therefrom pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291.
20 Ernst argues that this court lacks jurisdiction to entertain Borzillo's cross-appeal because Borzillo did not file a timely notice of appeal from the district court's immediately appealable interlocutory denial of her motion for summary judgment on the ground of absolute immunity. 5 Instead, she waited and appealed from the final judgment against her. We reject Ernst's argument because we hold that an interlocutory appeal from a denial of summary judgment on immunity grounds, although permitted, is not obligatory. 21 This court has not yet addressed the specific issue of whether a party that fails to file an appeal within 30 days after entry of an immediately appealable interlocutory order denying summary judgment on immunity grounds forfeits the right to challenge that denial on appeal from the final judgment. However, we have adopted the general rule that [i]f matters are adjudged by an interlocutory decree that is subject to immediate appeal, and no appeal is taken, they are not foreclosed, but are subject to review on appeal from the final judgment, 9 Moore's Federal Practice § 110.18, at 194 (1996); id. at 195 n. 2 (citing cases); see also 15A Wright, Miller & Cooper, Federal Practice & Procedure § 3911, at 359 & n. 78 (citing cases), in another context. Victor Talking Mach. Co. v. George, 105 F.2d 697, 699 (3d Cir.1939) (holding that interlocutory appeal from interlocutory injunction is permissive rather than mandatory, and injunction thus may be challenged on appeal from either the interlocutory order or the final judgment). The Seventh Circuit has described the rationale for the general rule: 22 Although a party has a right to take an immediate appeal, there is no obligation to do so.... A rule that required people to appeal from potentially final decisions not embodied in separate documents [within the meaning of Fed.R.Civ.P. 58] would lead to a blizzard of protective appeals as litigants tried to ensure their rights to review; many times the rule would lead to pointless forfeitures as litigants overlooked the possibility that a particular order might be characterized as a final decision. 23 Exchange Nat'l Bank of Chicago v. Daniels, 763 F.2d 286, 290 (7th Cir.1985) (emphasis in original). Moreover, [m]aking interlocutory appeals ... mandatory would turn the policy against piecemeal appeals on its head. Hunter v. Department of Air Force Agency, 846 F.2d 1314, 1316 (11th Cir.1988) (quoting In re Chicken Antitrust Litigation, 669 F.2d 228, 236 (5th Cir.1982)). 24 We can see no meaningful distinction between interlocutory orders denying summary judgment on immunity grounds and other appealable interlocutory orders. Accordingly, we think it appropriate to extend the general rule to interlocutory orders denying summary judgment on immunity grounds. See McIntosh v. Weinberger, 810 F.2d 1411, 1431 n. 7 (8th Cir.1987) (applying general rule to orders denying summary judgment on immunity grounds because the interest in protecting public officials from monetary liability for official acts survives even after a trial has been held). Therefore, Borzillo did not forfeit her right to appeal the district court's denial of her motion for summary judgment on immunity grounds by waiting to file a notice of appeal until after entry of a final judgment against her. We thus have jurisdiction to consider the immunity issue raised in her cross-appeal.