Johnson v. Rodrigues

• Decision Date: 28 August 2000
• Docket Number: DEFENDANT-98-550-2,DEFENDANT-98-550-1,No. 99-4127,99-4127
• Citation: 226 F.3d 1103
• Parties: (10th Cir. 2000) VICTOR JOHNSON, Plaintiff - Appellant, v. MONICA RODRIGUES (OROZCO); SEALED; SEALED; ADOPTION CENTER OF CHOICE, Defendants - Appellees
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

Page 1103

226 F.3d 1103 (10th Cir. 2000)

VICTOR JOHNSON, Plaintiff - Appellant, v. MONICA RODRIGUES (OROZCO); SEALED DEFENDANT-98-550-1; SEALED DEFENDANT-98-550-2; ADOPTION CENTER OF CHOICE, Defendants - Appellees.

No. 99-4127

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS TENTH CIRCUIT

August 28, 2000

As Amended on Denial of Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Oct. 12, 2000

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF UTAH (D.C. No. 98-CV-550-C)

[Copyrighted Material Omitted] C. Robert Collins, Phoenix, Arizona for Appellant.

Constance K. Lundberg, Brigham Young University Law School, Provo, Utah, and Karra J. Porter, Christensen & Jensen, P.C., Salt Lake City, Utah, (G. Murray Snow, Osborn Maledon, P.A., Phoenix, Arizona, and Jay E. Jensen, Christensen & Jensen, P.C., Salt Lake City, Utah, with them on the brief) for Appellees.

Before TACHA, HOLLOWAY and BALDOCK, Circuit Judges.

HOLLOWAY, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff Victor Johnson (Plaintiff) brought this action under federal question jurisdiction and as a diversity case, seeking declaratory relief and citing 28 U.S.C. § §1331 and 1332 (a) (1) and the declaratory judgment act. He asserted that Utah's adoption statutes unconstitutionally denied him -- the purported father of a child whose adoption had been obtained in Utah -- notice and an opportunity to be heard. Plaintiff also asserted a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress against defendant Monica Rodrigues, alleged to be the child's mother, and the Adoption Center of Choice (Defendants). Defendants Adoption Center of Choice and Defendants adoptive parents, who were joined as defendants, moved to dismiss Plaintiff's action or in the alternative for summary judgment, arguing that the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine.¹ See District of Columbia Court of Appeals v. Rooker-Feldman, 460 U.S. 462 (1983); Rooker v. Fidelity Trust Co., 263 U.S. 413, 415-16 (1923).

The district court granted Defendants' motions.² Plaintiff timely appeals. We have appellate jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. For reasons that follow we affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for further proceedings.

I

The case began in the United States District Court for the District of Utah where Plaintiff Victor Johnson filed his complaint against Monica Rodrigues (Orozco), an unnamed Utah husband and wife, and a Utah adoption agency, Adoption Center of Choice. App. at 11-12. The complaint averred that jurisdiction lies under the diversity statute, 28 USC § 1332, the federal question statute, 28 USC § 1331, and the declaratory judgment act. The complaint alleges that the issues relate to the Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution and that the Plaintiff challenges the constitutionality of the adoption statutes of the State of Utah as they apply to a non-resident of Utah, here a resident of the State of Arizona. App. at 11. The complaint alleges also the Plaintiff's residence to be in Phoenix and that his domicile is Arizona. It avers that the residence of Defendant Monica Rodrigues (Orozco) was unknown but that her last known address was in Orem, Utah and Plaintiff also alleged it was his belief that Defendant Rodrigues remains in a state other than Arizona or Utah. App. at 12. It was averred also that an unnamed adoptive husband and wife are Defendants who have been residents of Utah during all material times and that the Defendant Adoption Center of Choice is a Utah adoption agency with its principal place of business in Orem, Utah.

The complaint further alleged that Plaintiff and Defendant Rodrigues conceived a child in Arizona, referred to as "Baby Orozco," who was born at the Orem Community Hospital in Orem, Utah; and that Defendant Rodrigues had previously informed Plaintiff that she was pregnant but had had an abortion during her first trimester. App. at 12-13. In discussions with Defendant Rodrigues' friends on about May 1, 1997, Plaintiff learned that he may be the father of a daughter by Defendant Rodrigues. Plaintiff therefore filed a petition in the Maricopa County, Arizona, Superior Court for determination of paternity and custody. That court ordered Defendant Rodrigues and Baby Orozco to submit to DNA testing.

The complaint stated that on June 16, 1997, Plaintiff was informed that Baby Orozco was in Utah and that Plaintiff was required by Utah law to be registered with the Utah State Register of Vital Statistics, which Plaintiff immediately did. The complaint averred that a commissioner of the Maricopa County Superior Court in Arizona made findings that Defendant Rodrigues gave birth to a baby girl on March 5, 1997 in Utah; that the father had made several attempts to gain information about the minor child, believed to be the child of Plaintiff because of an intimate relationship the parties had during the time of conception; and that the possibility of an adoption of the minor by Plaintiff was creating difficulty for Plaintiff in obtaining any information regarding the child. App. at 13.

By use of a Utah subpoena, Plaintiff obtained records which made it appear there was a pending adoption proceeding in Utah for Baby Orozco,³ but Plaintiff alleges he was unable to learn about the court case number or the judge involved. App. at 14. The medical records contained documents for "authorization for release of a child to a Designated Person." The person to whom the child was released was an employee of Defendant Adoption Center of Choice. The Center received court orders sent by Federal Express regarding the child which contained a letter from Defendants, the adoptive husband and wife. Plaintiff called Defendant Adoption Center of Choice and spoke with a "Rosemary" about the adoption; she indicated nothing could be done and that further information would not be provided, according to the complaint.

The Arizona statutes involved are alleged to be Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 25-401, et seq. App. at 18. The complaint stated that the relevant adoption statutes of Utah are Utah Code Ann., § 78-30-4.11 et seq. It was alleged that the latter statute, as applied or on its face, without due process of law deprived Plaintiff of his fundamental right to maintain a parent-child relationship in that the statute does not require the mother to produce the name of a possible father. It was averred that a due process violation occurred also because once "actual notice of the father's right is given to the adoption agency there is no duty on the adoption agency as agent for the adoptive parents to disclose information or [provide] notice of the proceedings to the father." In connection with this alleged violation of Plaintiff's rights, the complaint cites the "Kidnapping Act 28 U.S.C. § 1738." App. at 21-22.

The complaint also alleged a cause of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress. The Plaintiff requested relief to enforce the Arizona court orders, to command Defendants to produce the baby for DNA testing, to return the baby to plaintiff, to declare void the decree of adoption issued by the Utah courts, and to "declare the Utah State Adoption Laws invalid," inter alia. App. at 23.

Defendant Adoption Center of Choice moved for summary judgment or abstention. App. at 44-45. Defendants, the adoptive parents, moved for dismissal of the complaint and also joined in the motion for summary judgment submitted by the co-defendant, Adoption Center of Choice. App. at 46-47. An order of the District Judge, following a hearing on several motions, stated that Defendant Monica Rodrigues did not appear. App. at 67-68. That order of May 11, 1999 stated that the court found it lacked subject matter jurisdiction and dismissed the Plaintiff's complaint, stating that the Adoption Center of Choice's motion for summary judgment or abstention was granted, the unnamed adoptive parents' motion to dismiss or for summary judgment was granted, and Plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment was denied. App. at 68.

At the hearing which resulted in that May 11, 1999 order, the District Judge stated she was going to dismiss the case because she concluded she did not have subject matter jurisdiction; that the Plaintiff's remedy when challenging an adoption in the state court system was to bring an action in the state court for some sort of collateral relief, either alleging fraud or, as the judge understood it, the unconstitutionality of the statute; and that under Anderson v. Colorado, 793 F.2d 262 (10th Cir. 1986), federal district courts are without authority to review state court judgments where the relief sought is in the nature of appellate review. The judge said that the Plaintiff's claims were essentially seeking to undo the adoption decision of the Utah state court, and therefore his case "fits squarely within the parameters of the Doe-Feldman doctrine which prohibits me, a federal district court, from reviewing the state court judgment." App. at 93-94.

Plaintiff Johnson filed a notice of appeal from the judgment of May 17, 1999 dismissing his complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. App. at 70-71.

II

Whether the district court had subject matter jurisdiction is a legal question which we review de novo. See Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri v. Pierce, 213 F.3d 566, 571 (10th Cir. 2000) ("The district court's determination of subject matter jurisdiction is a question of law which we review de novo.").

Title 28 U.S.C. § 1331 vests the federal district courts with "original jurisdiction of all civil actions arising under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States." 28 U.S.C. § 1332 (a) provides that the "district courts shall have original jurisdiction of all civil actions where the matter in controversy exceeds the sum or value of $75,000, exclusive of interest and costs, and is between . . . citizens of different States." 28 U.S.C. § 1257, in turn, provides that "final judgments or decrees rendered by the highest court of a State...