Rochelle Driessen v. 11th Judicial Circuit Court in and for Dade County, Florida Juvenile Division

522 F. App'x 797

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
• Decided: July 1, 2013
• Docket: 12-14127
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Rochelle Driessen, proceeding pro se, appeals the district court’s sua sponte dismissal on frivolity grounds of her 42 U.S.C. § 1983 complaint against the Juvenile Division for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit for Dade County, Florida (“Juvenile Division”). Construing Driessen’s complaint liberally, she alleges that the Juvenile Division violated her due process rights by failing to provide her with notice of a 2007 hearing terminating her parental rights and placing her children in a permanent guardianship, and by later failing to terminate jurisdiction over her children. On appeal, Driessen argues that the district court erred in dismissing her case for frivolousness on the ground that it was barred by res judicata.

We take judicial notice that the Circuit Court for the Eleventh Judicial District of Florida is part of Florida’s state court system. Title V of the Florida Constitution, entitled “Judicial Branch,” provides in § 25.382, “State Courts System,” that (1) As used in this section, “state courts system” means all officers, employees, and divisions of the Supreme Court, district courts of appeal, circuit courts, and county courts. The “Juvenile Division,” is one of the Circuit Court’s divisions, like the “Civil Division,” and “Criminal Division,” and is presided over by one or more Circuit Judges. Because the court is part of the state court system, it is entitled to sovereign immunity.

AFFIRMED.