Court Opinion

ID: 9464738
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 23:41:14.631838+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:38:47.420792
License: Public Domain

FAIRCHILD, Chief Judge,
concurring.
In this case, appellants (hereinafter referred to as “golf pros”) seek an injunction against the enforcement of a final state court judgment. I find it difficult to distinguish this attempted process from a review of the state court judgment. See Atlantic C. L. R. Co. v. Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, 398 U.S. 281, 287, 293, 296, 90 S.Ct. 1739, 26 L.Ed.2d 234 (1969). As a general rule, the lower federal courts are without jurisdiction to review final state court judgments absent some recognized ground for collateral attack such as habeas corpus. The only federal forum for review of state court judgments, unless some basis exists for collateral attack, is the Supreme Court.1 See, e. g., Warriner v. Fink, 307 F.2d 933, 936 (5th Cir. 1962). Cf. Adkins v. Underwood, 520 F.2d 890, 892 (7th Cir. 1975).
Assuming that we might have some jurisdiction to enjoin enforcement of the state court judgment, but for the Anti-Injunction statute, golf pros argue that § 16 of the Clayton Act, as interpreted by Vendo Co. v. Lektro-Vend Corp., 433 U.S. 623, 97 S.Ct. 2881, 53 L.Ed.2d 1009 (1977), constitutes an expressly authorized exception to the Anti-Injunction statute under the facts of this case. As I read Lektro-Vend, however, proceedings in state court can only be enjoined under § 16 if those proceedings are part of a “pattern of baseless, repetitive claims.” 97 S.Ct. at 2894 (Blackmun, J., concurring)2 Since the present case involves one action brought .in state court which resulted in final judgment in favor of the park district, it certainly cannot be said that Park District engaged in a “pattern of baseless, repetitive claims.” I agree with the majority that no other exceptions to the Anti-Injunction Act are applicable.
I therefore concur in the denial.

. I recognize that the Supreme Court in Vendo Co. v. Lektro-Vend Corp., 433 U.S. 623, 97 S.Ct. 2881, 53 L.Ed.2d 1009 (1977), assumed without deciding that there may be situations where a federal court can issue an injunction against enforcement of a final state court judgment. Petitioner in Lektro-Vend argued that the federal courts were required to give full faith and credit to a final state court judgment; however, this question was not presented in the petition for certiorari and was not passed upon by the Court. 97 S.Ct. at 2886 and n. 4.
Lektro-Vend was a case which originated in this circuit. Had I been on the panel when it was here, my reluctance for review by a lower federal court of a final state court judgment would probably have caused me to dissent.

. Because of the 3-2-4 division of the Court in Lektro-Vend, the concurring opinion of Justice Blackmun was decisive. The “pattern of baseless, repetitive claims” standard is derived from California Motor Transport Co. v. Trucking Unlimited, 404 U.S. 508, 92 S.Ct. 609, 30 L.Ed.2d 642 (1972), where the Court stated that such use of the adjudicatory process could constitute a violation of the antitrust laws.