Goodson v. Maggi

• Decision Date: 23 June 2011
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 08–44.
• Citation: 797 F.Supp.2d 604
• Parties: Daniel J. GOODSON, III, Plaintiff, v. Lawrence O. MAGGI, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Pennsylvania

797 F.Supp.2d 604

Daniel J. GOODSON, III, Plaintiff,

v.Lawrence O. MAGGI, et al., Defendants.

Civil Action No. 08–44.

United States District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania.

June 23, 2011.

Daniel J. Goodson, III, New Kensington, PA, pro se.

Paul R. Scholle, Office of the Attorney General, Edmond R. Joyal, Jr., Law Office of Joseph S. Weimer, Marie Milie Jones, Jeffrey Cohen, Jonespassodelis PLLC, James R. Schadel, Weinheimer, Schadel & Haber, Pittsburgh, PA, Friedrick C. Haines, Colorado Department of Law, Denver, CO, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM ORDER

GARY L. LANCASTER, Chief Judge.

Plaintiff's Complaint was received by the Clerk of Courts on January 11, 2008 and was referred to Chief United States Magistrate Judge Lisa Pupo Lenihan for pretrial proceedings in accordance with the Magistrate Judges Act, 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1), and Rules 72.1.3 and 72.1.4 of the Local Rules for Magistrate Judges.

The Magistrate Judge's Report and Recommendation (Doc. No. 285) filed on June 3, 2011, recommended that the Motion to Dismiss filed by Defendant Judge Walker (Doc. No. 194) be granted. Service was made on all counsel of record and pro se Plaintiff Daniel J. Goodson, III. The parties were informed that in accordance with the Magistrate Judge's Act, 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B) and (C), and Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 72(b)(2), and Local Rule of Court 72.D.2., the parties had fourteen (14) days from the date of service to file objections to the Report and Recommendation. No objections have been filed. After review of the pleadings and the documents in the case, together with the Report and Recommendation, the following Order is entered:

AND NOW, this 23 day of June, 2011,

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the Motion to Dismiss (Doc. No. 194) filed by Defendant Judge Walker is GRANTED.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Report and Recommendation (Doc. No. 285) of Magistrate Judge Lenihan, dated June 3, 2011, is adopted as the Opinion of the Court.

MAGISTRATE JUDGE'S REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

LISA PUPO LENIHAN, United States Chief Magistrate Judge.I. RECOMMENDATION

It is respectfully recommended that the Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 194) filed by Defendant Judge Douglas S. Walker be granted.

II. REPORTA. Relevant Facts

Plaintiff Daniel J. Goodson III (hereinafter “Father” or “Plaintiff”) is a pro se individual who has filed this civil action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983, 1985, 1986 and 1988 on behalf of himself and his four minor children, D.G. VI, J.G., S.G. and D.G. (ECF No. 36 at Overview.) ¹ At ECF No. 242, Chief District Judge Lancaster dismissed the claims of minor Plaintiffs without prejudice, and on December 23, 2010, these minor children were terminated as parties in the above-captioned case. Therefore, Father, Daniel J. Goodson, III, is the only remaining Plaintiff.

Plaintiff asserts violations of his First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. (ECF No. 36 at Overview.) The Amended Complaint contains a plethora of different claims regarding a variety of different situations. The majority of the claims, however, stem from custody proceedings regarding Father's children in the state courts of Pennsylvania and Colorado (hereinafter the “underlying custody matter”). Plaintiff has named 37 different defendants who are judges, courts, court employees, county commissioners and controllers, social workers employed by various county children and youth services, the mothers of Father's children, Father's former counsel, foster parents, a guardian ad litem, a state trooper, a prison official, a sheriff, and state and federal prosecutors.

According to Plaintiff, Father and Defendant Tara Thompson (“Thompson”), the biological mother of D.G. VI, J.G., and S.G., divorced in 2000. Plaintiff Father filed for custody of D.G. IV, J.G., and S.G. in Westmoreland County Court of Common Pleas (“Westmoreland County Court”). (ECF No. 36 at Overview.) In the meantime, Thompson and children moved to Colorado and she filed for divorce in the La Plata County District Court in Durango, Colorado (hereinafter “Colorado Court”). (ECF No. 36 at Overview.) Defendant Judge John Driscoll of the Westmoreland County Court relinquished jurisdiction of the case to the Colorado Court. (ECF No. 36 at ¶ 31.) During all or most of these four years, Father was incarcerated in the Allegheny County Jail. (ECF No. 36 at Synopsis.) Plaintiff avers that Defendant Judge Douglas S. Walker (“Judge Walker”), then a magistrate in Colorado's Sixth Judicial District, presided over the divorce action involving Plaintiff and Defendant Thompson. Eventually, Father's parental rights were involuntarily terminated by the Colorado Court in 2004. (ECF No. 36 at Synopsis.)

Plaintiff seeks generally declaratory, injunctive and monetary relief against all Defendants. (ECF No. 36 at Posture.) With regard to Judge Walker, who has filed the present Motion to Dismiss, Plaintiff requests the following injunctive and/or declaratory relief:

(1) declare the Colorado Court's judgment null and void and reverse;

(2) order that the names of the minor children be changed back to their birth names;

(3) order that D.G. IV, J.G., and S.G. be returned to Pennsylvania and that they be placed under the guardianship of their paternal grandparents;

(4) order that jurisdiction in all custody matters be remanded to the Westmoreland County Court and Westmoreland County Children and Youth Services;

(5) order that an injunction issue to disqualify the Colorado Court and relieve it of any jurisdiction. (6) order a federal investigation of all Defendants' conduct and actions relating to the Amended Complaint.

(ECF No. 36 at Synopsis.) In addition, Plaintiff also requests an order directing (1) the filing of federal criminal charges against those Defendants as warranted and (2) a federal investigation of all Defendants' conduct and actions in regard to the complaint. With regard to monetary relief, Plaintiff seeks from each Defendant compensatory damages in the amount of $50,000 and punitive damages in the amount of $100,000. (ECF No. 36 at Synopsis.)

In his response to Judge Walker's Motion to Dismiss, Plaintiff Goodson states at ECF No. 212 that the following averments of the Amended Complaint are directed against Judge Walker (as well as other defendants):

1) That Plaintiff has a right to protect and communicate with his minor children, although he is temporarily incarcerated and that Defendants have conspired to interfere with his civil rights. (ECF No. 36 at ¶ 17.)

2) That Defendants, over a period of hearings, told him that he would never see any of his children again, including D.G., and that his parental rights would eventually be terminated. (ECF No. 36 at ¶ 19.)

3) That as a result of Defendants' actions, Plaintiff suffers from migraine headaches, severe depression, mood disorders and other related dysfunctions. (ECF No. 36 at ¶ 25.)

4) That all Defendants are negligent in violating Plaintiff's due process and equal protection rights through false statements, conspiracy, gross and malicious actions, and acting outside the scope of their professional capacities acting under color of state law. Plaintiff further avers that Defendants have tried to preclude Plaintiff from filing complaints, and exercising his appellate rights, forbade his testimony, as well as his freedom of speech to the court and news media. He also avers that Defendants have manipulated the legal system to cause him harm by stealing his rights and freedoms to his children. Plaintiff further avers that all have made racial slurs/remarks towards him and his family. (ECF No. 36 at ¶ 29.)

5) Plaintiff states that Defendants have been grossly negligent, and that most of their actions occurred “during the administrative acts,” and therefore fall outside the protections of absolute judicial immunity. (ECF No. 36 at ¶ 33.)

6) Defendants have terminated Plaintiff's parental rights, allegedly, with racial bias. Plaintiff further avers that he has suffered harm as a result of Defendants' attempts to separate minor children from the black paternal side of the family, and that he was never told of his right to counsel, or of his appellate rights. Plaintiff alleges that Judge Walker and the La Plata County District Court, under color of state law, acted outside the scope of their duties to deprive him of his federal rights, and that they conspired against him, denying him equal protection of the laws. He adds that the Colorado Court involuntarily terminated his parental rights on clearly falsified and frivolous evidence. Plaintiff avers that the biological mother of all but one of his children, Defendant Thompson, was employed either by an agency of the Colorado Court, or by the Colorado Court itself and that she used “her influence and constituency to ascertain decision and judgments of [the] court in her favor....” (ECF No. 36 at ¶¶ 35–40.)

7) In Paragraph 53 of the Amended Complaint, Plaintiff alleges that Defendant Judge Walker, acting under color of law and outside the scope of his duties, denied Plaintiff his right to counsel, disregarded the best interests of Plaintiff's children, relied on circumstantial evidence and hearsay, and avers that Judge Walker is a racist, especially concerning interracial relationships. Plaintiff further alleges that Defendant conspired with others to deprive Plaintiff of his constitutional rights before, during and after court proceedings, and that he was aware of the alleged conflict of interest because of Thompson's employment with the court. (ECF No. 36 at ¶ 53.)

8) Plaintiff avers that all defendants conspired with one another by off record comments, internet exchanges, and with written and telephonic communications. (ECF No. 36 at ¶ 84.)

9) Finally, Plaintiff asserts state law claims of outrageous conduct, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and gross negligence against all Defendants.

B. Legal StandardsPRO SE PLEADINGS

The Court must liberally construe the factual...