Carol Kam v. John Peyton, Jr.

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
• Decided: July 18, 2019
• Docket: 18-11657
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

Case: 18-11657 Document: 00515040666 Page: 1 Date Filed: 07/18/2019

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT

No. 18-11657 United States Court of Appeals

Summary Calendar Fifth Circuit

FILED July 18, 2019

CAROL M. KAM, Lyle W. Cayce Clerk Plaintiff - Appellant

v.

JOHN B. PEYTON, JR.,

Defendant - Appellee

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas USDC No. 3:18-CV-1447

Before JONES, HIGGINSON, and OLDHAM, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM:* This is an appeal from a district’s court dismissal, pursuant to the Rooker-Feldman doctrine, of the Appellant’s claims relating to a probate matter that was fully litigated, decided, and upheld in Texas state courts. The Appellant filed a variety of pro se claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the state judge who presided over the original probate matter, predicated upon the Appellant’s theory that the judge was without jurisdiction to preside over the

* Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR. R. 47.5.4. Case: 18-11657 Document: 00515040666 Page: 2 Date Filed: 07/18/2019

No. 18-11657 dispute. The district court, upon the recommendation of a magistrate judge, characterized the Appellant’s claims as a thinly-veiled collateral attack on the state courts’ final judgment and dismissed the claims under the Rooker- Feldman doctrine as articulated by this court in Phinizy v. State of Ala., 847 F.2d 282, 284 (5th Cir. 1988). After a careful review of the parties’ briefs, the district court’s decision, and applicable case law, this court AFFIRMS the district court’s decision for substantially the same reasons articulated in the magistrate’s Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendation and adopted by the district court in that case.