Hampton v. Commonwealth of MA

• Court: Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
• Decided: September 27, 2000
• Docket: 99-1136
• Status: Published

Opinion

[NOT FOR PUBLICATION–NOT TO BE CITED AS PRECEDENT]

United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit

No. 99-1136

MARIAN E. HAMPTON,

Plaintiff, Appellant,

v.

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS,

Defendant, Appellee.

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS

[Hon. Robert E. Keeton, U.S. District Judge]

Before

Torruella, Chief Judge, Boudin and Lynch, Circuit Judges.

Marian E. Hampton on brief pro se. Thomas F. Reilly, Attorney General and John E. Bowman, Jr., Assistant Attorney General, on brief for appellee.

September 26, 2000 Per Curiam. We have reviewed the parties' briefs

and the record on appeal. We review de novo the legal

determination of whether the requirements for abstention

have been met. Brooks v. New Hampshire Supreme Court, 80

F.3d 633, 637 (1st Cir. 1996). We conclude that the

requirements were met and the district court did not err in

dismissing the case on abstention grounds.

At the time of the district court's December 16,

1998 hearing, there was (1) an ongoing state judicial

proceeding, (2) implicating important state interests, (3)

which provided appellant an adequate opportunity to raise

her constitutional challenge. See Middlesex Ethics Comm. v.

Garden State Bar Ass'n, 457 U.S. 423, 432 (1982) (outlining

the three part inquiry); see also Brooks v. New Hampshire

Supreme Court, 80 F.3d at 638. Appellant, herself,

foreclosed her opportunity for state court consideration of

her claim when she voluntarily absented herself from the

divorce trial.

The district court judgment of dismissal, dated

December 16, 1998, is affirmed.