Court Opinion

ID: 9411343
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-07-26 17:00:35.417005+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:16:36.908682
License: Public Domain

NOT PRECEDENTIAL

                       UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                            FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
                                 ___________

                                       No. 23-1133
                                       ___________

           PATRICIA J. LEE, on behalf of her minor children, M.C. and B.C.,
                                                                   Appellant

                                             v.

                                   ALAN CHAN
                       ____________________________________

                     On Appeal from the United States District Court
                               for the District of New Jersey
                        (D.N.J. Civil Action No. 2:22-cv-07266)
                      District Judge: Honorable Susan D. Wigenton
                      ____________________________________

                    Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a)
                                    July 19, 2023
            Before: HARDIMAN, PORTER, and FREEMAN, Circuit Judges

                              (Opinion filed: July 26, 2023)
                                     ___________

                                        OPINION*
                                       ___________

PER CURIAM

       Pro se appellant Patricia J. Lee appeals the District Court’s dismissal of her

*
 This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not
constitute binding precedent.
complaint, which she framed as a habeas petition seeking relief on behalf of her two

minor children. For the reasons that follow, we will affirm the District Court’s judgment.

       Lee is presently involved in an ongoing divorce proceeding in the Superior Court

of New Jersey for Bergen County, Chancery Division, Family Part. Pursuant to a court

order in that proceeding from November 2021, Lee’s two minor children were placed in

the sole custody of their father, Alan Chan. Lee maintains that she was previously the

primary caregiver for both children and that she did not receive notice of the November

2021 hearing where the custody order went into effect. She claims that Chan has

colluded with the state court judge presiding over the divorce proceeding to strip her of

custody and parenting time with her children.

       Based on these allegations, Lee initiated an action in the District Court in

December 2022, styled as a habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. She claimed that her

two children were “in custody” of Chan pursuant to a state court order and sought

“release from their unlawful detention” on their behalf. See Compl. at 3. The District

Court dismissed the complaint for lack of jurisdiction. Lee sought reconsideration, which

was denied, and she timely appealed.1

       The District Court appropriately dismissed Lee’s complaint. “[F]ederal habeas

has never been available to challenge parental rights or child custody.” Lehman v.

1
  We have jurisdiction over this appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We review de
novo the District Court’s dismissal of Lee’s complaint for lack of jurisdiction. See
Metro. Life Ins. Co. v. Price, 501 F.3d 271, 275 (3d Cir. 2007).
                                             2
Lycoming Cnty. Children’s Servs. Agency, 458 U.S. 502, 511 (1982). Lee functionally

“seeks to relitigate, through federal habeas, not any liberty interest of her [children], but

the interest in her own parental rights.” See id. at 511. Because “§ 2254 does not confer

federal-court jurisdiction” for child custody disputes, see id. at 516, Lee cannot bring a

§ 2254 petition on behalf of her minor children who are currently in Chan’s custody and

leave to amend her § 2254 petition would be futile.

        Accordingly, we will affirm the judgment of the District Court.2

2
    We grant Lee’s motion to file her reply brief out of time.
                                               3