Ropoleski v. Rairigh

886 F. Supp. 1356, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6964, 1995 WL 313993
District Court, W.D. Michigan·Decided May 22, 1995·No. No. 1:94-CV-603·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

McKEAGUE, District Judge.

This case presents an action for deprivation of various civil rights under color of state law. Defendants are participants in post-divorce judgment controversies concerning the care and custody of plaintiffs minor daughter, controversies that are still pending in the Kent County Circuit Court and the Michigan Court of Appeals. Now before the Court are motions to dismiss brought by many of the defendants. The Court conducted a hearing on the motions on January 31, 1995. Plaintiff, who is proceeding pro se, did not appear at the hearing. Instead, he filed a four-page “statement for hearing,” giving no explanation for his absence.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

According to the complaint, plaintiff Joseph Alan Ropoleski and his former wife, defendant Irene K. RaMgh, obtained a judgment of divorce in the Kent County Circuit Court on February 10,1984. Physical custody of their daughter, Amanda Sue Ropoleski, date of bMh August 31, 1980, was awarded to defendant RaMgh. Custody was transferred to plaintiff by stipulation on August 30, 1990. Since early 1993, there have been continuous disputes concerning custody, visitation and child support. The Kent County Friend of the Court has assisted in the management of these disputes, which are assigned to Kent County Circuit Judge Dennis B. Leiber.

Plaintiff is not happy with the way the disputes have been handled. In this action, he complains that defendant RaMgh has conspired with others to deprive him of constitutional rights such as equal protection, due process, freedom of association, family integrity and privacy. The others include named defendants Dawn I. Krupp, RaMgh’s attorney; Friend of the Court officials Eric E. Mis, William D. Camden, and Pamela K. Whittemore; Newhall Junior High School [1360]*1360Principal Barbara Smith; and Sergeant Paul Robinson of the City of Wyoming Police Department. All pendent state law claims were dismissed by order dated September 21, 1994. The remaining claims against these defendants, contained in counts VI and VII, are brought ostensibly under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985(3). Although the complaint is lengthy, 58 pages, the allegations of civil rights violations are eonclusory. Plaintiff alleges essentially that he is the victim of gender based discriminatory enforcement of court orders, laws and Friend of the Court policies. Plaintiff seeks compensatory damages, punitive damages and injunctive relief.

Defendants’ motions to dismiss are brought under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), asserting plaintiff has failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. The motions test the legal sufficiency of the complaint. In evaluating the complaint, the Court accepts all well-pleaded factual allegations as true and construes them in the light most favorable to plaintiff. Cameron v. Seitz, 38 F.3d 264, 270 (6th Cir.1994). “A complaint should not be dismissed for failure to state a claim unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief.” Id., quoting Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 102, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957). Moreover, the allegations of a complaint drafted by a pro se litigant are held to less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers. Haines v. Kemer, 404 U.S. 519, 520, 92 S.Ct. 594, 595, 30 L.Ed.2d 652 (1972); Jourdan v. Jabe, 951 F.2d 108, 110 (6th Cir.1991).

II. DEFENDANTS MIS AND CAMDEN

A. Injunctive Relief

Defendant Camden is the Kent County Friend of the Court. Defendants Mis and Whittemore are Friend of the Court ease managers who were assigned to the Ropoleski case.1 Plaintiff alleges these defendants have violated his constitutional rights by failing to enforce defendant Rairigh’s custody, visitation and/or support obligations.

To the extent plaintiff seeks injunctive relief, the Court declines to exercise jurisdiction. The reason is two-fold. First, an award of injunctive relief would run afoul of the interests safeguarded by the domestic relations exception to federal jurisdiction. See Ankenbrandt v. Richards, 504 U.S. 689, 701-05, 112 S.Ct. 2206, 2214-15, 119 L.Ed.2d 468 (1992); Zak v. Pilla, 698 F.2d 800, 801 (6th Cir.1982). The injunctive relief requested would, in essence, require the Court to issue an order enforcing the terms of the state court’s divorce decree and post-judgment orders concerning custody, visitation and support. In Ankenbrandt, supra, the Supreme Court narrowed the scope of the domestic relations exception, but confirmed its continuing vitality to divest the federal courts of power to issue orders pertaining to divorce decrees and child custody orders. 504 U.S. at 703-05, 112 S.Ct. at 2215.

Second, abstention is appropriate under both the Younger doctrine and the Bur-ford doctrine. Federal injunctive relief would represent an unwarranted interference with pending state court proceedings. It is clear from the allegations of plaintiff’s complaint that the Kent County Circuit Court has played and continues to play an active role in the management of custody, visitation and support disputes between plaintiff and his former wife. As recognized in Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37, 91 S.Ct. 746, 27 L.Ed.2d 669 (1971), and its progeny, notions of comity critical to principles of federalism counsel against the exercise of federal jurisdiction under such circumstances. See also Ankenbrandt, 504 U.S. at 703-07, 112 S.Ct. at 2215-16.

Similar considerations also militate in favor of abstention under the principles set forth in Burford v. Sun Oil Co., 319 U.S. 315, 63 S.Ct. 1098, 87 L.Ed. 1424 (1943). The requested injunctive relief, threatening interference with the Friend of the Court’s statutorily defined discretionary authority, impli[1361]*1361cates “difficult questions of state law bearing on policy problems of substantial public import whose importance transcends the result in the case at bar.” See Ankenbrandt, at 705-07, 112 S.Ct. at 2216, quoting Colorado River Water Conservation Disk v. United States, 424 U.S. 800, 814, 96 S.Ct. 1236, 1244, 47 L.Ed.2d 483 (1976) (describing the requirements for Burford abstention); Minot v. Eckardt-Minot, 13 F.3d 590, 593-95 (2nd Cir.1994) (affirming abstention with respect to claims growing out of a pending custody dispute).

B. Individual Capacity

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Ropoleski v. Rairigh, 886 F. Supp. 1356, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6964, 1995 WL 313993 (W.D. Mich. 1995).

886 F. Supp. 1356 (Ropoleski v. Rairigh) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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