Reid v. North Carolina

837 F. Supp. 2d 554, 2011 WL 5925538, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 136319
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. North Carolina
DecidedNovember 28, 2011
DocketNo. 3:11cv422
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 837 F. Supp. 2d 554 (Reid v. North Carolina) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Reid v. North Carolina, 837 F. Supp. 2d 554, 2011 WL 5925538, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 136319 (W.D.N.C. 2011).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION AND ORDER

MAX O. COGBURN, JR., Disctrict Judge.

THIS MATTER is before the court on plaintiffs objections to the “Memorandum and Recommendation and Order” (# 16) of Honorable David S. Cayer, United States Magistrate Judge, entered November 4, 2011, 2011 WL 5974531 (W.D.N.C. Nov. 04, 2011). The substance of plaintiffs objections are contained in his “Memorandum in Support of Objections & Page Extension” (# 19). Defendant has filed its “Response to Objections” (#20), and it appears to the court that the objections are ripe for resolution.

FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS

I. Background

A. Plaintiffs Complaint

On September 2, 2011, plaintiff, appearing pro se, filed his Complaint pursuant to the “U.S. Const. Art. Ill, Sec. 2 and Procedural Due Process under the 5th & 14th Amendment & 28 U.S.C. 1331 of Fed. Proc.” (# 1), at p. 1. Read in a light most favorable to plaintiff, the allegations in the Complaint arise from plaintiffs state-court [556]*556conviction for possession of cocaine in 1993 and, for the reasons that follow, the court finds that plaintiff is attempting to assert a claim against the State of North Carolina under 42, United States Code, Section 1983.

Plaintiff contends that in securing such criminal conviction 18 years ago, the state lacked jurisdiction over his case because it improperly transferred the matter from juvenile proceedings in district court to an adult proceeding in superior court. Id., at p. 13. (Apparently, plaintiff was 16 years old at that time.) Plaintiff states that he later challenged that conviction, apparently on grounds similar to those raised herein, by filing a Motion for Appropriate Relief (hereinafter “MAR”) in superior court, which was denied, id., Ex. 1, at p. 2, and that he in turn challenged the denial of the MAR through several filings with the North Carolina Court of Appeals, which were also denied. Id. There is no allegation that he sought review by either the North Carolina Supreme Court or the United States Supreme Court.

In this action, plaintiff contends that he was denied due process when the state secured the conviction against him, challenges the validity of the adverse state court decisions, and requests that this court invalidate his state court conviction because the state court lacked jurisdiction. Id., at p. 13. Plaintiff does not challenge the constitutionality of the state statutes which apply to these criminal matters.

B. Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss

In its Motion to Dismiss (# 6), defendant argues, inter alia, that this action should be dismissed as this court lacks jurisdiction over the subject matter of plaintiffs Complaint.1 It argues that this court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction over plaintiffs claim because the United States Supreme Court has exclusive jurisdiction over appeals from state court judgments.

C. The Recommendation of Judge Cayer

In pertinent part, Judge Cayer recommended that defendant’s Rule 12(b)(1) Motion to Dismiss be granted as this court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction to hear plaintiffs challenge to the decisions of the state trial and appellate courts. After reviewing current case law, Judge Cayer determined, as follows:

This action falls squarely within the Rooker-Feldman doctrine. Plaintiff is asking, this Court to review the decisions of the North Carolina courts. Orders entered in the trial division of the North Carolina General Court of Justice are reviewed by the courts of the appellate division (N.C. R.App. P. 21(e)) and the United States Supreme Court (Supreme Court Rule 10; 28 U.S.C. § 1257(a)). Under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine, a federal district court does not have jurisdiction to review Plaintiffs state court matter. Plaintiff specifically seeks to have “the Judgement Conviction rendered by the Gaston Superior Court invalidated as null and void in being that the Court never had jurisdiction to enter the judgment for its inception.” Doc. 1 at 13. The requested relief would have this Court conduct an appellate review of state court decisions and make determinations that these judgments were erroneously entered. This Court is without jurisdiction to provide such relief. This Complaint should, therefore, be dismissed pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter. For these reasons, the undersigned respectfully recommends that Defen-

[557]*557M & R (# 16), at p. 5. For the reasons discussed below, the court concludes that such recommendation is fully supported by both a fair reading of plaintiffs Complaint and current law. See 28 U.S.C. § 1257; Lance v. Dennis, 546 U.S. 459, 463, 126 S.Ct. 1198, 163 L.Ed.2d 1059 (2006) (per curiam); District of Columbia Court of Appeals v. Feldman, 460 U.S. 462, 482, 103 S.Ct. 1303, 75 L.Ed.2d 206 (1983); Rooker v. Fidelity Trust Co., 263 U.S. 413, 416, 44 S.Ct. 149, 68 L.Ed. 362 (1923).

D. Plaintiffs Objections

Plaintiff has submitted a number of objections, sub-objections, and “defenses” to the recommendation. Many of the objections are restatements of other objections while others are simply nonjusticiable. In a attempt to fairly and efficiently consider plaintiffs pro se objections, the court has followed plaintiffs format by grouping the more than 25 pages of objections to Judge Cayer’s seven-page recommendation into five categories, as follows:

(1) the recommendation is wrong because Rooker-Feldman does not preclude jurisdiction simply because he failed to challenge the constitutionality of any state statute, and the magistrate judge failed to consider the merits of plaintiffs claims;
(2) the recommendation is wrong because the magistrate judge only addressed the issues on the face of the Complaint, and because, in moving to dismiss, defendant raised an issue, and plaintiff is allowed to respond and counter-claim against its assertion;
(3) the recommendation is wrong because claiming that the state superi- or court injured him when it deprived him of procedural due process is well within the “safe harbor” provision of Davani v. Virginia Dept. Of Transp., 434 F.3d 712 (4th Cir.2006), and that he is not seeking review of the decision of the state supreme court;
(4) the recommendation is wrong because the “Yale

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Kinard v. Williams
E.D. Virginia, 2025
Reid v. North Carolina
471 F. App'x 188 (Fourth Circuit, 2012)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
837 F. Supp. 2d 554, 2011 WL 5925538, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 136319, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reid-v-north-carolina-ncwd-2011.