Johnson v. Orr

• Decision Date: 04 December 2008
• Docket Number: No. 08-1133.,08-1133.
• Citation: 551 F.3d 564
• Parties: David JOHNSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. David D. ORR, Maria Pappas, Treasurer, Fredda Berman, et al., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

551 F.3d 564

David JOHNSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. David D. ORR, Maria Pappas, Treasurer, Fredda Berman, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 08-1133.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued October 16, 2008.

Decided December 4, 2008.

Terri Smith Blanchard (argued) Barclay & Dixon, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

David Johnson, Chicago, IL, pro se.

Paul A. Castiglione (argued), Office of the Cook County State's Attorney, Chicago, IL, for Defendants-Appellees.

Before RIPPLE, EVANS and TINDER, Circuit Judges.

RIPPLE, Circuit Judge.

David Johnson acquired a "certificate of purchase" on a parcel of land in Cook County, Illinois (the "County") for which taxes had not been paid. Ordinarily the holder of a certificate of purchase can acquire a tax deed from the County if the owner of the property does not pay the delinquent taxes, but, in this instance, it turned out that the County had been mistaken about the delinquency. With Mr. Johnson's explicit consent, a state circuit court judge entered an order directing that the tax sale be rescinded, Mr. Johnson's money be returned and the certificate of purchase be cancelled. Mr. Johnson nevertheless petitioned the state court to compel the County to issue him a tax deed, and when that request was denied, he filed this action claiming that the county clerk and other county officials had violated his civil rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1703, and Illinois state law. The district court concluded that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction under both the Rooker-Feldman doctrine and the Tax Injunction Act. Because we agree that the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over Mr. Johnson's claims under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine, we affirm its judgment.

I BACKGROUND

In 2004, Cook County concluded that the property taxes for a particular parcel of real estate had not been paid. Under Illinois law, when an owner fails to pay taxes on real estate, the county collector and the county clerk bring an in rem action in state court and request permission to sell the accrued taxes, special assessments, interest and penalties. See 35 ILCS 200/21-150; Wilder v. Finnegan, 267 Ill.App.3d 422, 204 Ill.Dec. 795, 642 N.E.2d 496, 499 (Ill.App.Ct.1994). In May 2004, the County sold the delinquent taxes to Z Financial, LLC, and issued Z Financial a certificate of purchase. See 35 ILCS 200/21-250. Z Financial later sold the certificate of purchase to Mr. Johnson. Illinois law thus entitled Mr. Johnson, as the tax purchaser, to receive a tax deed for the property if he sent and published the required notices informing the delinquent taxpayer of the right to redeem the property by repaying the delinquencies, see 35 ILCS 200/21-345, 200/21-350, 200/22-5, 200/22-10, 200/22-15, 200/22-20, 200/22-25, and then successfully petitioned the state circuit court, within three to six months of the end of the redemption period, for an order directing the county clerk to issue the deed. See 35 ILCS 200/22-30, 200/22-40; Cook County Circuit Ct. R. 10.3.

Mr. Johnson complied with the notice provisions. Before he petitioned the circuit court for a tax deed, however, the County sought a judicial declaration that the tax sale was "in error" because the parcel was owned by a government entity and therefore was exempt from property taxes. See 35 ILCS 200/21-310(a). On September 6, 2006, Mr. Johnson and the County entered into an "agreed order" declaring that the tax sale was in error and directing that the certificate of sale be surrendered within ten days, that the certificate be cancelled and that the county treasurer refund the purchase price plus costs and interest. The Illinois circuit court entered the order. Mr. Johnson does not allege that the County failed to return the money and cancel the certificate of purchase.

Despite the entry of the agreed order, Mr. Johnson petitioned the Illinois circuit court to order the county clerk to issue him the tax deed for the property. Apparently his first application did not follow the proper form, and the circuit court granted him leave to file an amended application, which he did in November 2006. The record contains no further information regarding the outcome of Mr. Johnson's application, although the complaint in this case states that no deed was issued to Mr. Johnson.

One year later, in October 2007, Mr. Johnson filed this action. He claims that, by refusing to issue him a tax deed, the County violated his constitutional rights to due process, equal protection and freedom from illegal searches and seizures; that the County defrauded him in violation of the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act; and that the County's actions ran afoul of state statutes and Illinois common law. In his complaint, Mr. Johnson does not even acknowledge the existence of the agreed order. The defendants moved to dismiss the complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. In granting the motion, the district court concluded that Mr. Johnson was asking, in effect, that the district court review and overturn the agreed order entered in state court, a remedy that the Rooker-Feldman doctrine prohibits. The district court also concluded that the Tax Injunction Act barred the exercise of federal jurisdiction because giving Mr. Johnson the relief he requests would interfere with Illinois' tax collection practices.

II DISCUSSION

We review de novo a district court's determination that it lacks subject matter jurisdiction over a dispute. Vill. of DePue, Ill. v. Exxon Mobil Corp., 537 F.3d 775, 782 (7th Cir.2008). Where a party raises the issue of subject matter jurisdiction, a court need not simply rely on the facts alleged in the complaint, but also may consider extrinsic evidence to determine whether it can exercise jurisdiction. See Hay v. Ind. State Bd. of Tax Comm'rs, 312 F.3d 876, 879 (7th Cir.2002).

A.

The district court reasoned that, under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine, it lacked subject matter jurisdiction over Mr. Johnson's claims. The Rooker-Feldman doctrine states that federal courts, other than the Supreme Court, do not have jurisdiction to review decisions of state courts in civil cases. See Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Saudi Basic Indus. Corp., 544 U.S. 280, 283-84, 125 S.Ct. 1517, 161 L.Ed.2d 454 (2005); Hemmer v. Ind. State Bd. of Animal Health, 532 F.3d 610, 613 (7th Cir. 2008); Holt v. Lake County Bd. of Comm'rs, 408 F.3d 335, 336 (7th Cir.2005). The doctrine deprives federal courts of subject matter jurisdiction where a party, dissatisfied with a result in state court, sues in federal court seeking to set aside the state-court judgment and requesting a remedy for an injury caused by that judgment. See Exxon Mobil Corp., 544 U.S. at 284, 125 S.Ct. 1517; Beth-El All Nations Church v. City of Chicago, 486 F.3d 286, 292 (7th Cir.2007). If the injury the plaintiff complains of resulted from, or is inextricably intertwined with, a state-court judgment, then lower federal courts cannot hear the claim. Taylor v. Fed. Nat'l Mortgage Ass'n, 374 F.3d 529, 532-33 (7th Cir. 2004). Rooker-Feldman is inapplicable, however, when the alleged injury is distinct from the judgment. For instance, it is inapplicable when the federal claim alleges "a prior injury that a state court failed to remedy." Centres, Inc. v. Town of Brookfield, Wis., 148 F.3d 699, 702 (7th Cir.1998); see also Long v. Shorebank Dev. Corp., 182 F.3d 548, 555 (7th Cir. 1999).

Mr. Johnson alleges that he has been injured by the court's failure to issue him a tax deed. This alleged injury stems directly from the Illinois circuit court's entry of the agreed order; it is that very order that deprived Mr. Johnson of the right to receive the tax deed and relieved the defendants of any obligation to deed the property to him. In essence, Mr. Johnson is complaining because the defendants are following the circuit court's order. See Ritter v. Ross, 992 F.2d 750, 754-55 (7th Cir.1993) (holding that Rooker-Feldman bars subject matter jurisdiction where "but for" the state-court judgment the plaintiff would have no claim); see also Holt, 408 F.3d at 336.

It is of no consequence that Mr. Johnson's complaint does not challenge specifically the agreed order. Nor is it relevant that he has characterized his grievance as a civil rights claim. To determine whether Rooker-Feldman bars a claim, we look beyond the four corners of the complaint to discern the actual injury claimed by the plaintiff. Remer v. Burlington Area Sch. Dist., 205 F.3d 990, 997 (7th Cir.2000) (looking to the substance of the plaintiff's claim to determine whether Rooker-Feldmanapplies). "[A] litigant may not attempt to circumvent the effect of Rooker-Feldman and seek a reversal of a state court judgment simply by casting the complaint in the form of a civil rights action." Holt, 408 F.3d at 336 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). Mr. Johnson's injury—the County's refusal to issue him a tax deed—was caused by the agreed order. He cannot avoid the Rooker-Feldmanbar by alleging that he suffered this injury as a result of violations of his constitutional rights. Therefore, we agree with the district court that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction over Mr. Johnson's civil rights claims.

Mr. Johnson claims that the Rooker-Feldman doctrine does not apply because he has not "lost any `decision'" and has not been "injured by a state court judgment." Appellant's Br. 33. We cannot accept these arguments. Mr. Johnson ignores that he consented to the agreed order's terms, characterizes it as an order that "[d]efendants have drafted" and describes it as "void." Id. In his brief, however, Mr. Johnson does not dispute that the order was a final decision of the state circuit court. At oral argument his attorney submitted that the agreed order was not final. We disagree. A settlement approved by a state court is a judgment for purposes of Rooker-Feldman. Crestview Vill. ...