Coles v. Granville

• Decision Date: 22 May 2006
• Docket Number: No. 05-3342.,05-3342.
• Citation: 448 F.3d 853
• Parties: Edwin M. COLES; Lisa Coles; Buffalo Prairie, LLC; Vincent Otrusina; Robert C. Bickley; Warren Jones; Wikel Farms, Ltd., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Jonathan GRANVILLE; Erie Metroparks Board of Park Commissioners; Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway Co.; Norfolk Southern Corp., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

448 F.3d 853

Edwin M. COLES; Lisa Coles; Buffalo Prairie, LLC; Vincent Otrusina; Robert C. Bickley; Warren Jones; Wikel Farms, Ltd., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Jonathan GRANVILLE; Erie Metroparks Board of Park Commissioners; Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway Co.; Norfolk Southern Corp., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 05-3342.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued: April 25, 2006.

Decided and Filed: May 22, 2006.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

ARGUED:

Nels J. Ackerson, Ackerson Kauffman Fex, Washington, D.C., for Appellants. John D. Latchney, Tomino & Latchney, LLC, LPA, Medina, Ohio, for Appellees.

ON BRIEF:

Nels J. Ackerson, Ackerson Kauffman Fex, PC, Washington, D.C., Thomas R. Lucas, D. Jeffery Rengel, Rengel Law Office, Sandusky, Ohio, J. Anthony Logan, Brooks & Logan Co., LPA, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellants. John D. Latchney, Tomino & Latchney, LLC, LPA, Medina, Ohio, Dennis M. O'Toole, Baumgartner & O'Toole, Sheffield Village, Ohio, for Appellees.

Before: GUY, DAUGHTREY, and CLAY, Circuit Judges.

CLAY, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff landowners appeal the January 25, 2005 order of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, which dismissed Plaintiffs' 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983, 1985(2), 1985(3), and state law claims against Defendant public officials and railroad companies for actions taken relative to Plaintiffs' real property. The district court held that Plaintiffs' action was not ripe in part, barred by the Rooker-Feldman doctrine in part, and merited Younger abstention in part.

For the reasons which follow, we AFFIRM the district court's dismissal of this case.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Substantive Facts

Plaintiffs are landowners along the old Milan Canal in Erie County, Ohio. The old Milan Canal extended, during its period of use, for 6.5 miles from the town of Milan, Ohio northward to the mouth of the Huron river, at which point the Huron river emptied into Lake Erie. Plaintiffs Edwin M. Coles, Lisa Coles, Vincent Otrusina, Robert C. Bickley, Warren Jones, and Buffalo Prairie, LLC were all parties to a prior state court proceeding in which Erie County Metroparks sought a declaratory judgment that Plaintiffs possessed no property interest in a 150 foot wide corridor along the old canal. Metroparks claimed to be the valid assignee of an infinite duration leasehold interest in that corridor and was interested in transforming the corridor into a recreational trail. The state court proceeding ultimately found that Metroparks did possess a valid leasehold interest, and further defined the property subject to the leasehold as follows:

The description of the Leased Property in the Lease unambiguously describes it as consisting of all lands then owned by the Milan Canal Company within a 150 foot wide corridor from approximately the intersection of Maine and Union Streets in the Village of Milan northerly to the north of the mouth of the Huron River. The only lands owned by the Milan Canal Company at the time the Lease was executed lay within the boundaries of the Kneeland Townsend property and the Ebeneser Merry property, neither of which lay north of Lock No. 1. Therefore, the Leased Property extends from the southern terminus of the old Milan Canal at or near the southerly end of the Milan Canal basin in the Village of Milan to its northerly terminus at the Huron River at the former location of Lock No. 1 on premises now owned by Wikel Farms, Ltd. immediately north of Mason Road in Section 2, Milan Township, Erie County.

(J.A. at 123 (emphasis added).)

Plaintiff Wikel Farms was not a party to the prior state court proceeding. Rather, Wikel Farms is currently involved in an appropriation action brought by Erie County Metroparks against Wikel Farms in state court, which involves portions of Wikel Farms' property along the old Milan Canal. Metroparks initiated that action in 1999 and, pursuant to Ohio law, deposited $20,000 in escrow at the onset of litigation, which is Metroparks' estimated valuation of the disputed property. Wikel Farms places a much higher valuation on the property, that of $500,000. That suit is not yet resolved.

B. Procedural History

The state court judgment against all Plaintiffs (save Wikel Farms), establishing Metroparks' leasehold interest in the Milan Canal corridor, was final in September 2002. Metroparks then proceeded to take actions to develop the recreational trail. Plaintiffs brought the instant suit on October 7, 2003 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio against Defendants Jonathan Granville (Director-Secretary of Erie Metroparks), the Erie Metroparks Board of Park Commissioners, Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway Co., and Norfolk Southern Corp. Plaintiffs sought redress under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983, 1985(2), and 1985(3) for violations of their rights under the Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution. Plaintiffs alleged that in their efforts to develop the recreational trail, Defendants laid claim to property beyond that found by Ohio state courts to fall within Metroparks' valid leasehold interest. Plaintiffs further alleged that Defendants wrongfully destroyed Plaintiffs' personal property. Plaintiffs also apparently sought a judgment that Plaintiffs were the rightful owners to all property under dispute with Defendants in the federal action. (See J.A. at 30, "Fifth Count, Quiet Title .... Plaintiffs are the owners of and are in possession of and otherwise have and claim a superior title and interest to that of defendants in the real property described [above].") Plaintiffs also sought damages in tort for slander of title.

After filing their Answer, Defendants filed a motion under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) with the district court, arguing that the district court either lacked or should decline to exercise jurisdiction over the case because 1) the Rooker-Feldman doctrine precluded Plaintiffs' collateral attack on the validity of Metroparks' leasehold interest; 2) those lands allegedly not within the leasehold interest represented a new takings claim for which Plaintiffs had not sought redress through state courts, and the issue was therefore not yet ripe for federal judicial review; and 3) the claims with respect to Wikel Farms (the only Plaintiff not a party to the leasehold litigation) were pending in state court proceedings which antedated the instant federal actions, and therefore Younger abstention was merited. The district court agreed, dismissing the case without prejudice on January 24, 2005.

On appeal, Plaintiffs argue that 1) the district court erred in dismissing Plaintiffs' claims, in part, on the basis of the Rooker-Feldman doctrine because Plaintiffs are seeking only to enforce the limitation on the scope of Metroparks' leasehold interest as decided in the prior litigation; 2) with respect to lands allegedly not adjudicated as falling under Metroparks' lease, Plaintiffs' takings claim is ripe for review; and 3) the district court erred when it chose to dismiss the claims asserted by Plaintiff Wikel Farms in lieu of holding them in abeyance under Younger.

II. ANALYSIS

A. Plaintiffs' Do Not Pursue Claims Which Implicate the Rooker-Feldman Doctrine

The district court dismissed Plaintiffs' case, in part, because the court found that Rooker-Feldman barred federal jurisdiction over some of Plaintiffs' claims. Because we find that Plaintiffs' case as presented to both the district court and this Court does not implicate Rooker-Feldman, we hold that Rooker-Feldman is inapplicable to Plaintiffs' allegations on appeal. To the extent that the district court decision may have improperly relied on Rooker-Feldman as a basis to dismiss Plaintiffs' case, we find such error harmless in light of our conclusion that Plaintiffs' takings claims are not yet ripe for review. This Court can affirm the district court on any grounds supported by the record. City Mgmt. Corp. v. U.S. Chem. Co., 43 F.3d 244, 251 (6th Cir.1994).

1. The Rooker-Feldman Doctrine Generally

Plaintiffs argue to this Court that they are not seeking review of the state court decision that adjudicated the validity and extent of Metroparks' leasehold interests. Rather, Plaintiffs allege on appeal that Defendants are misreading the state court decision to give them more property than the decision actually held was rightfully possessed by Defendants. In contrast, Defendants argue that Plaintiffs' instant action is an attempted end-run around the state leasehold decision and contend that Rooker-Feldman bars their suit.

Rooker-Feldman is a doctrine with only limited application. The doctrine originates from two Supreme Court decisions, which were rendered 60 years apart. See Rooker v. Fidelity Trust Co., 263 U.S. 413, 44 S.Ct. 149, 68 L.Ed. 362 (1923); D.C. Court of Appeals v. Feldman, 460 U.S. 462, 103 S.Ct. 1303, 75 L.Ed.2d 206 (1983). In both cases the plaintiffs challenged the validity of state court decisions by filing suit in federal district court. In Rooker, the plaintiff asked the district court to render the state court judgment against him "null and void." See Rooker, 263 U.S. at 414-15, 44 S.Ct. 149. In Feldman, the plaintiffs filed suit against the actual state court that had rejected the plaintiffs' applications to practice law. Feldman, 460 U.S. at 478-79, 103 S.Ct. 1303. In both cases the Supreme Court dismissed the suits for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, reasoning that pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1257, only the Supreme Court, and not the lower federal courts, enjoys appellate jurisdiction over state court decisions. See Rooker, 263 U.S. at 414-15, 44 S.Ct. 149; Feldman, 460 U.S. at 478-79, 103 S.Ct. 1303. Significantly, the Feldman Court reasoned that the plaintiffs could challenge the state rules themselves in federal court on constitutional grounds; such a challenge would not be asking the district court to exercise appellate authority over a state court, but normal preclusion rules would still...