Court Opinion

ID: 9469087
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 02:31:47.847173+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:41:12.765980
License: Public Domain

HILL, Circuit Judge,
specially concurring:
In my view, principles of preclusion prevent a federal district court from entertain*666ing the merits of a § 1983 complaint which asserts that the issues have been finally resolved against the complainant in a state court of competent jurisdiction even though it be alleged that, had the state court correctly adjudicated the issues, the complainant would have prevailed.
The asserted First Amendment objection to discovery was submitted to the state trial court, the Superior Court of Ben Hill County, Georgia. That court had personal and subject matter jurisdiction. The ruling adverse to appellant was appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court which affirmed.1 The Supreme Court of the United States declined to grant the writ of certiorari.
The issue before us is adequately controlled by Bradford v. Bronner, 665 F.2d 680 (5th Cir. 1982) (Clark, J.). It is conceivable that a claim under § 1983 might be stated where the injury complained of resulted from state court action, see Southern Jam v. Robinson, 675 F.2d 94, 97, n.7 (5th Cir. 1982), but no such case appears here.
While I agree that the case was correctly decided by the state court, I feel it to be an inappropriate presumption on our part to pass judgment upon it. Whether the case came out correctly or not in the state system, the claim asserted in the district court was properly dismissed.
I concur in the judgment affirming the judgment of the district court dismissing the complaint.

. Our panel holds that the state judicial system ruled correctly, supplying an opinion which, had the Georgia Supreme Court thought it necessary, might have been added to its own. Ambassador College v. Goetzke, 244 Ga. 322, 260 S.E.2d 27 (1979). That Court produces more written opinions than any other court of last resort in the nation. West Publishing Co. (unpublished report). It is not remarkable that it does not so extensively address nonmeritorious assertions in its reasons for judgment.