Dornheim v. Sholes

Decision Date07 December 2005
Docket NumberNo. 04-4032.,04-4032.
Citation430 F.3d 919
PartiesMarybeth DORNHEIM, individually and on behalf of her infant son Tanner Tibbetts; Michael Tibbetts, Appellants, v. Michael SHOLES, individually and as a police officer; John Packett, as Chief of the City of Grand Forks Police Department; Kate Kenna, individually and as Administrator; Patricia Sele, individually and as social worker; Randy Slavens, individually and as social worker; Keith Berger, as Director of Grand Forks Social Services; Melissa Schmalenberger, individually and as Guardian Ad Litem; Dr. Steven Timm; Dr. Ronald Miller, Appellees.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Steven Kraft, argued, Grand Forks, ND, for appellant.

Angela E. Lord, argued, Fargo, ND, for appellees Dr. Steven Timm and Dr. Ron Miller.

Douglas A. Bahr, argued, Bismarck, ND, for appellees Slavens and Kenna.

Ronald F. Fischer, argued, Grand Forks, ND, for appellees Sholes, Packett, Sele and Berger.

Before MURPHY, HANSEN, and GRUENDER, Circuit Judges.

HANSEN, Circuit Judge.

Marybeth Dornheim, on behalf of herself and her minor son, Tanner, and her adult son, Michael, (collectively "the Dornheims") filed a civil rights lawsuit against the police officers, social workers, court-appointed doctors, and Tanner's court-appointed guardian ad litem who were involved in Dornheim's state-court custody dispute with her ex-husband. The Dornheims appeal from the district court's dismissal of the lawsuit, and we affirm.

I.

Because the district court dismissed the lawsuit under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim, we take the facts from the face of the complaint as true. See Federer v. Gephardt, 363 F.3d 754, 757 (8th Cir.2004). Dornheim, a social worker herself, was involved in a bitter divorce and custody dispute with her ex-husband, James Tibbetts. The Grand Forks County Social Services Agency (Agency) investigated allegations of domestic violence in October 1998, prior to the divorce. Following the Agency's investigation, which Dornheim characterized as "woefully" inadequate, the Agency found Dornheim partially responsible for the domestic violence. Dornheim made an administrative appeal, which was forwarded to Kate Kenna, a social worker who had supervisory authority over Dornheim when Dornheim worked as a social worker. Dornheim claims that Kenna prevented the appeal from being heard, and that Kenna made defamatory remarks about Dornheim to others in the Agency.

During and following the divorce, both spouses accused the other of abusing Tanner, approximately nine years old at the time, by leaving bruises on him. In July 2000, Tibbetts asked his neighbor, defendant Randy Slavens, another social worker, to look at bruises on Tanner's arm allegedly caused by Dornheim. Slavens filed a report of abuse and neglect and testified at the state-court custody hearing. Detective Michael Sholes investigated the allegations of child abuse and also testified in the state custody proceedings in support of Tibbetts.

Patricia Sele, a social worker, was involved in the investigation of the second allegation of abuse which was based on a report made by a doctor at the urgent care clinic Dornheim took Tanner to when Tanner returned from his father's house with facial bruising. According to Dornheim, Sele's investigation, which concluded that both parents "needed services," was inadequate and inappropriate. The finding that Dornheim needed services would have been detrimental to Dornheim's career as a social worker and was ultimately withdrawn before it could be appealed. Nevertheless, during the pendency of the state proceedings, Dornheim lost her job as a social worker.

Ms. Schmalenberger was Tanner's court-appointed guardian ad litem during the divorce and custody proceedings. According to Dornheim, Attorney Schmalenberger interfered with Dornheim's right and ability to make decisions for Tanner, made numerous ex parte communications with the state court judge and Tibbetts' attorney, made counseling recommendations that violated various codes of ethics and were harmful to Tanner, and generally failed to meet her guardian ad litem responsibilities.

Dr. Steven Timm and Dr. Ronald Miller are both medical experts who were appointed by the state court to perform medical evaluations during the custody proceedings. Dr. Timm also held joint counseling sessions with Tanner and his father, which, according to Dornheim, violated various ethics codes because, she asserts, a victim should never be required to receive joint counseling with the perpetrator. Dr. Miller performed an Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) evaluation of Tanner over Dornheim's objections, and he allegedly told Dornheim that his findings had to be consistent with Schmalenberger's conclusions.

Tibbetts commenced divorce proceedings in state court in 1998, and the state district court issued its final order in the divorce proceedings on August 13, 2003, in which it denied Dornheim's motion to modify the judgment concerning visitation. In April 2003, the State of North Dakota filed a deprivation petition in juvenile court concerning Tanner. The juvenile court filed its Order of Disposition in the deprivation proceeding on August 26, 2003, in which it placed legal custody of Tanner with the state but allowed Dornheim to retain physical custody and provided for unsupervised visitations for Tibbetts. Dornheim appealed aspects of both of those proceedings to the Supreme Court of North Dakota, which affirmed the lower court judgments on June 30, 2004.

On August 13, 2003, the Dornheims filed this civil rights lawsuit in federal court, alleging: (1) separate 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claims against Sholes, John Packett as Chief of the Police Department, Kenna, Sele, Slavens, Keith Berger as Director of the Social Services Agency, and Schmalenberger for maliciously and intentionally interfering with their constitutionally-protected rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments; (2) a 42 U.S.C. § 1985 claim against all defendants for conspiring to violate Dornheim's rights as a custodial parent under the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses; (3) a state-law defamation claim against Kenna; (4) and state-law malpractice claims against Sele, Dr. Timm, and Schmalenberger. The complaint asked for an injunction against the District Court of North Dakota enjoining it from enforcing certain of its orders and enjoining it from making other particular orders. The complaint also sought $3 million in compensatory damages and various amounts of punitive damages against various defendants.

The United States Magistrate Judge, hearing the case by consent of the parties pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(c), dismissed the Dornheims' federal action for lack of jurisdiction under the Rooker/Feldman1 doctrine to the extent that the claims were inextricably intertwined with the state court custody and deprivation hearing decisions, finding that the requested injunctive relief under the federal claims would effectively reverse the state court decisions. The court alternatively found that the § 1985 claim failed to state a cognizable claim and that each of the defendants was entitled to either qualified immunity or quasi-judicial immunity on the § 1983 claims and the state-law malpractice claims. The court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the final state law claim of defamation against Kenna and dismissed that claim without prejudice. The Dornheims appeal the dismissal of the federal claims but do not address the state-law claims in their briefs. We thus decline to address the district court's dismissal of the state-law claims as those issues have been waived. See Neb. Plastics, Inc. v. Holland Colors Ams., Inc., 408 F.3d 410, 421-22 n. 5 (8th Cir.2005).

II.
A. Rooker/Feldman Doctrine

Since the court's ruling, the Supreme Court has confined application of the Rooker/Feldman doctrine to "cases of the kind from which the doctrine acquired its name: cases brought by state-court losers complaining of injuries caused by state-court judgments rendered before the court proceedings commenced and inviting district court review and rejection of those judgments." Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Saudi Basic Indus., ___ U.S. ___, 125 S.Ct. 1517, 1521-22, 161 L.Ed.2d 454 (2005). The basis for the Rooker/Feldman doctrine is that, other than in the context of habeas claims, federal district courts are courts of original jurisdiction, and by statute they are precluded from serving as appellate courts to review state court judgments, as that appellate function is reserved to the Supreme Court under 28 U.S.C. § 1257. Id. at 1526. Exxon Mobil makes clear that the Rooker/Feldman doctrine precludes federal district court jurisdiction only if the federal suit is commenced after the state court proceedings have ended. See id. at 1527 ("[N]either Rooker nor Feldman supports the notion that properly invoked concurrent jurisdiction vanishes if a state court reaches judgment on the same or related question while the case remains sub judice in a federal court."); see also Mothershed v. Justices of Supreme Court, 410 F.3d 602, 604-05 n. 1 (9th Cir.2005) (determining whether state-court proceedings were complete as the first step of a post-Exxon Mobil Rooker/Feldman analysis). There is no judgment to review if suit is filed in federal district court prior to completion of the state-court action. Rather, "[d]isposition of the federal action, once the state-court adjudication is complete, would be governed by preclusion law." Exxon Mobil, 125 S.Ct. at 1527.

The North Dakota District Court issued its final order in the divorce proceedings on August 13, 2003. The juvenile court filed its Order of Disposition in the deprivation proceeding on August 26, 2003. Dornheim appealed both state-court rulings to the Supreme Court of North Dakota, which affirmed the lower court judgment...

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