Lazaridis v. Wehmer

• Decision Date: 07 January 2010
• Docket Number: No. 09-1342.,09-1342.
• Citation: 591 F.3d 666
• Parties: Emmanuel N. LAZARIDIS, individually and in his capacity as legal custodian of V.L., a minor, v. Lavina Tina WEHMER; Matthew Neiderman; Catherine Suter; Afroditi Mina Mauroeidi; Office of the Attorney General of the State of Delaware; Attorney General Joseph Biden, III. Emmanuel N. Lazaridis, Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

591 F.3d 666 Emmanuel N. LAZARIDIS, individually and in his capacity as legal custodian of V.L., a minor,
v.
Lavina Tina WEHMER; Matthew Neiderman; Catherine Suter; Afroditi Mina Mauroeidi; Office of the Attorney General of the State of Delaware; Attorney General Joseph Biden, III.
Emmanuel N. Lazaridis, Appellant. No. 09-1342. United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit. Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 34.1 on December 3, 2009. Filed: January 7, 2010.

[591 F.3d 667]

Emmanuel N. Lazaridis, Lazaridis-Kortsidakis, Smyrnis, Crete, Greece, Pro Se Appellant.

Before: RENDELL, HARDIMAN and ALDISERT, Circuit Judges.

OPINION OF THE COURT

PER CURIAM.

Pro se appellant Emmanuel Lazaridis filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware raising various constitutional and statutory claims relating to child custody proceedings and the registration of foreign custody orders in the state of Delaware against his ex-wife, her attorneys, and the Delaware Attorney General. Lazaridis now appeals from the District Court's October 30, 2008 and January 14, 2009 orders dismissing his complaint and denying his motion for reconsideration. For the reasons that

591 F.3d 668

follow, we affirm the District Court's orders.

I. Background

At issue in this appeal is the custody of V.L., Lazaridis's and defendant Wehmer's daughter.¹ In June 2004, a French court granted Wehmer and Lazaridis joint custody of V.L. but ordered that the child's primary residence be with Wehmer. Wehmer thereafter sought to register the French custody order in Delaware Family Court pursuant to the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act ("UCCJEA"), as adopted by the State of Delaware.² See 13 Del. C. Ann. § 1934(a). As permitted by Delaware law, Lazaridis challenged the registration of the order. See 13 Del. C. Ann. § 1934(d). In March 2005, the Family Court held a hearing at which Lazaridis's attorney argued that Delaware lacked jurisdiction to enforce or to register the French order. Although the Family Court ordered briefing on "whether there were any valid grounds for challenging the registration," it ultimately denied Lazaridis's motion.

Lazaridis appealed to the Delaware Supreme Court, claiming, among other things, that: (1) the UCCJEA violates the Delaware Constitution; (2) the UCCJEA, as applied, violated his right to due process; and (3) the Family Court abused its discretion by ordering the registration of the French order. In June 2006, the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the Family Court's order and declined to consider Lazaridis's constitutional claims because he had not raised them before the Family Court. See Letsos v. Warren, 901 A.2d 120 (Del.2006).

In August 2006, Lazaridis filed a motion in Family Court seeking relief from the registration and enforcement of the 2004 French custody order on the basis that Greece was exercising jurisdiction over V.L. He claims that the Family Court never ruled on this motion.

Meanwhile, in August 2005, a French court issued another custody order giving Wehmer the right to "exclusively exercise parental authority" over V.L. In October 2006, Wehmer requested that the Family Court register the order, and on December 6, 2006, Lazaridis filed a motion challenging the registration of that order.

On December 27, 2006, Lazaridis filed the instant complaint against Wehmer, her attorneys, and the Delaware Attorney General. Lazaridis set forth the following three claims: (1) the UCCJEA and Uniform Interstate Family and Support Act ("UIFSA") violated the due process rights guaranteed by the Delaware Constitution and the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, both generally and as applied to him; (2) V.L.'s "fundamental rights" were violated because the Delaware courts applied the UIFSA and UCCJEA rather than Greek law, which includes the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child; and (3) Wehmer and her attorneys conspired to violate Lazaridis's and V.L.'s rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Lazaridis asked the District Court to enjoin the Delaware courts from enforcing current or future foreign orders registered in Delaware Family Court under the UCCJEA or UIFSA. He also sought to enjoin the defendants from registering

591 F.3d 669

or enforcing French orders in Delaware courts. Finally, Lazaridis requested monetary damages pursuant to the § 1983 claim.

On January 31, 2007, a Greek court issued a custody order granting temporary custody of V.L. to Lazaridis. That order was continued on April 27, 2007. And on July 30, 2007 the Delaware Family Court vacated the registration of the 2005 French order, citing the January 2007 Greek order.

In August 2007, Lazaridis filed a motion to reopen in Family Court seeking to vacate the registration of the 2004 French order. The Family Court, on November 29, 2007, issued a decision denying his request based on the doctrine of res judicata. T.W. v. E.L., No. CN04-08707, 2007 WL 4793123 (Del.Fam.Ct. Nov.29, 2007).

Before the Family Court issued its November 2007 decision, the District Court sua sponte dismissed Lazaridis's complaint under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B) based on its determination that Lazaridis was barred from filing suit under the so-called fugitive disentitlement doctrine. See Ortega-Rodriguez v. United States, 507 U.S. 234, 113 S.Ct. 1199, 122 L.Ed.2d 581 (1993); Degen v. United States, 517 U.S. 820, 116 S.Ct. 1777, 135 L.Ed.2d 102 (1996). On appeal, we vacated the District Court's order after finding that the fugitive disentitlement doctrine did not apply to Lazaridis.

On remand, the District Court sua sponte dismissed Lazaridis's complaint under the following rationales: (1) the lack of subject matter jurisdiction under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine, or alternatively by reason of res judicata and collateral estoppel (claim no. 1-2004 French order); (2) the Younger abstention doctrine (claim no. 1-2005 French order); (3) as frivolous (claim nos. 2 and 3); and (4) for failure to state a claim under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B) (claim nos. 2 and 3). The District Court denied Lazaridis's outstanding motions for service and for "renewed consideration of prior motions" as moot. Lazaridis subsequently filed a motion for reconsideration, which the District Court denied on January 14, 2009.

Lazaridis timely appealed. Our jurisdiction rests on 28 U.S.C. § 1291.

II. Analysis A. Denial of the Motion to Reconsider

Lazaridis first appeals from the District Court's denial of his Rule 59 motion. In this case, the appropriate standard of review is for an abuse of discretion. See Federal Kemper Ins. Co. v. Rauscher, 807 F.2d 345, 348 (3d Cir.1986).

The purpose of a motion for reconsideration is "to correct manifest errors of law or fact or to present newly discovered evidence." Max's Seafood Café v. Quinteros, 176 F.3d 669, 677 (3d Cir.1999). A proper Rule 59(e) motion therefore must rely on one of three grounds: (1) an intervening change in controlling law; (2) the availability of new evidence; or (3) the need to correct clear error of law or prevent manifest injustice. N. River Ins. Co. v. CIGNA Reinsurance Co., 52 F.3d 1194, 1218 (3d Cir.1995). Lazaridis's motion advanced the same arguments that were in his complaint and motions....