Manley v. City of Chicago et al

• Decision Date: 05 January 2001
• Docket Number: Nos. 99-3785,00-1154,s. 99-3785
• Citation: 236 F.3d 392
• Parties: (7th Cir. 2001) John J. Manley, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. City of Chicago, et al., Defendants-Appellees
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 392

236 F.3d 392 (7th Cir. 2001)

John J. Manley, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. City of Chicago, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

Nos. 99-3785, 00-1154

In the United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Argued September 21, 2000

Decided January 5, 2001

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. No. 97C0182--Nan R. Nolan, Magistrate Judge. [Copyrighted Material Omitted] Before Rovner, Diane P. Wood, and Williams, Circuit Judges.

Williams, Circuit Judge.

Appellant John J. Manley was terminated from the Chicago Police Department for violating several of the department's rules and regulations. After unsuccessfully challenging his termination in the Illinois state court system, Manley filed suit in federal court alleging various due process and equal protection violations under federal law, and a state law claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress. The magistrate judge found that his emotional distress claim was time-barred, a ruling that Manley does not contest, and dismissed his federal claims under the Rooker- Feldman doctrine, which precludes lower federal courts from reviewing final decisions of state courts. We affirm.

I

In March 1994, Manley, a former captain of police of the Chicago Police Department, was suspended without pay for allegedly sexually harassing female officers. Manley contested the suspension through an evidentiary hearing, which occurred over an eighteen-day period between April and August, 1994. Manley was represented by counsel throughout the hearing and subpoenaed 67 witnesses to testify on his behalf. In all, over 100 witnesses testified, and Manley's counsel cross-examined all nine of the police department's witnesses. On January 13, 1995, the police board issued its findings that Manley violated several department rules and terminated him from employment.

On February 17, 1995, Manley sought administrative review in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois. He challenged his suspension, hearing and termination on various grounds, including the denial of due process. The circuit court dismissed Manley's complaint for administrative review finding that the record supported his discharge.

Thereafter, Manley appealed the circuit court's decision to the Illinois Appellate Court. While that appeal was pending, on January 10, 1997, Manley filed suit in the Northern District of Illinois alleging violations of 42 U.S.C. sec.sec.1983 and 1985(3). He asserted, among other things, that he was denied due process during the hearing and that the department's failure to administer the police department rules and regulations without regard to his race or sex violated his right to equal protection.

Meanwhile, on December 29, 1997, the Illinois Appellate Court affirmed the circuit court's decision. The appellate court found, among other things, that there was sufficient evidence to support the board's findings and the decision to terminate Manley was supported by the record. Manley then petitioned for leave to appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court, and on October 6, 1998, his petition was denied.

After the parties consented to the jurisdiction of a magistrate judge, on September 29, 1999, Magistrate Judge Nolan dismissed Manley's federal claims for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and his emotional distress claim as being time- barred. Manley then filed a motion to alter the judgment on the grounds of attorney carelessness under Fed.R.Civ.P. 60(b). The magistrate judge denied his motion. Next, Manley filed a motion to review the bill of costs after the defendants, the prevailing party, sought to recover $3,623.75. The magistrate judge also denied this motion. On appeal, Manley challenges the dismissal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and the denials of his motions to alter the judgment and review the bill of costs.

II

A

At the outset, Manley argues that the district court's order dismissing his case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction was not a final and appealable order because one of the defendants was not served with process.¹ Although not typically raised by an appellant, Manley's argument amounts to a challenge to our jurisdiction.

28 U.S.C. sec.1291 grants us "jurisdiction of appeals from all final decisions of the district courts of the United States. . . ." A district court's decision is final when only ministerial details remain. Dzikunoo v. McGaw YMCA, 39 F.3d 166, 167 (7th Cir. 1994). We have held that the presence of an unserved defendant does not defeat finality when an attempt by the plaintiff to serve the complaint on the unserved defendant would be untimely under Fed. R.Civ.P. 4(m) and any new complaint against the unserved defendant would be barred by the statute of limitations. See United States v. 8136 S. Dobson Street, Chicago, Illinois, 125 F.3d 1076, 1081 (7th Cir. 1997); see also Ordower v. Feldman, 826 F.2d 1569, 1573 (7th Cir. 1987) (applying Fed.R.Civ.P. 4(m)'s predecessor, Rule 4(j)). We have reasoned that when such circumstances are present the district court's order is "final" because it "effectively terminates" the plaintiff's litigation. See 8136 S. Dobson Street, 125 F.3d at 1081.

Such circumstances are present here. Rule 4(m) allows a plaintiff 120 days after the filing of the complaint to effect service upon a defendant. Manley filed this complaint on January 10, 1997. Service now is clearly untimely. Additionally, in Illinois, a two-year statute of limitations applies to claims brought under sec.sec.1983 and 1985. See Eison v. McCoy, et al., 146 F.3d 468, 470 (7th Cir. 1998); Wilson v. Giesen, 956 F.2d 738, 741 n.4 (7th Cir. 1991). Manley was discharged in January 1995, so any new complaint would be time-barred. Accordingly, the magistrate judge's dismissal "effectively terminated" Manley's litigation, and therefore, is a final decision within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. sec.1291.

B

Manley's next argument challenges the magistrate judge's dismissal of his federal claims for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. He argues that his claims should not have been dismissed under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine because they could not have been brought in state court. We review a dismissal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction de novo. Long v. Shorebank Development Corp., 182 F.3d 548, 554 (7th Cir. 1999).

The Rooker-Feldman doctrine precludes lower federal courts from exercising jurisdiction over claims that would require them to review a final judgment of a state court. Rooker v. Fidelity Trust Co., 263 U.S. 413, 44 S. Ct. 149 (1923); District of Columbia Court of Appeals v. Feldman, 460 U.S. 462, 103 S. Ct. 1303 (1983). Review of state court judgments is possible only in the state court system and from there to the United States Supreme Court. Garry v. Geils, 82 F.3d 1362, 1366 (7th Cir. 1996). The doctrine applies not only to claims that were actually raised before the state court, but also to claims that are inextricably intertwined with state court determinations. Ritter v. Ross, 992 F.2d 750, 753 (7th Cir. 1993). The key inquiry is "whether 'the district court is in essence being called upon to review the state-court decision.'" Id. at 754 (quoting Feldman, 460 U.S. at 483-84 n.16, 103 S. Ct. at 1316 n.16).

For example, in Maple Lanes, Inc. v. Messer, 186 F.3d 823 (7th Cir. 1999), we held that the plaintiff's sec.1983 claim was precluded by Rooker-Feldman. In Maple Lanes, the plaintiff alleged that it lost its liquor license due to false and defamatory remarks made by the town's sheriff. Maple Lanes unsuccessfully sought review of the revocation of its liquor license in state court. It then filed a federal complaint against the sheriff for defamation. We found that the plaintiff could not repackage its claim originally brought in state court in the form of a federal complaint for defamation because the injury that Maple Lanes complained of--the loss of its liquor license--stemmed directly from the state court judgment upholding the revocation of the license. Id. at 825.

Similarly, in GASH Associates v. Village of Rosemont, Illinois, 995 F.2d 726 (7th Cir. 1993), we found that Rooker-Feldman barred a sec.1983 suit because the injury stemmed from the state court's decision confirming the sale of property. Id. at 728-29. The plaintiff in GASH Associates, dissatisfied with the state court's confirmation of the sale of its property at a foreclosure sale, filed a sec.1983 suit against the Village of Rosemont. GASH Associates claimed that the Village's low tender at a condemnation action prior to the sale scared away rival bidders, thereby lowering the amount that the property was actually sold for at the foreclosure sale. In vacating the district court's judgment on the merits, we found that the injury that GASH Associates complained of--the sale of its property at a low price--directly stemmed from the state court judgment confirming the sale. We reasoned that "[d]ominating this case is a simple fact: GASH objects to the outcome of a judicial proceeding and filed a separate suit to get around it." Id. at 727.

This Court's holding in Long v. Shorebank Development Corp., 182 F.3d 548 (7th Cir. 1999), is also instructive even though we ultimately determined that Rooker-Feldman did not preclude jurisdiction. In Long, the plaintiff was wrongfully evicted from her home and an eviction order was secretly and fraudulently obtained against her in state court. We found that Long's due process claim that the defendants deprived her of her property stemmed directly from the eviction order, and could not be considered separate from it because "if the proceedings in the Circuit Court resulted in her favor. . . it seems unlikely that she would have been evicted. . . ." Id. at 556. We only determined that federal jurisdiction was proper because the plaintiff did not have a reasonable opportunity to challenge the eviction in state court. Id. at 557-58.

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