Mann v. Boatright
| Decision Date | 15 February 2007 |
| Docket Number | No. 05-1559.,05-1559. |
| Citation | 477 F.3d 1140 |
| Parties | Beverly MANN, individually, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Brian D. BOATRIGHT, individually and in his capacity as a Jefferson County, Colorado First Judicial District Judge; James D. Zimmerman, individually and in his capacity as a Jefferson County, Colorado First Judicial District Judge; Frederic B. Rodgers, a Gilpin County, Colorado, County Judge and (by special designation of Colorado First Judicial District Chief Judge R. Brooke Jackson) Jefferson County, Colorado, Probate Judge, in his capacity as Jefferson County, Colorado First Judicial District Probate Judge; R. Brooke Jackson, in his capacity as Chief Judge of the First Judicial District, State of Colorado; Jefferson County, Colorado, a municipal or county corporation; The First Judicial District, State of Colorado; The State of Colorado; Mary Munger, individually and in her capacity as a City of Lakewood, Colorado Police Officer; Janet Young, individually and in her capacity as a City of Lakewood, Colorado assistant city attorney; The City of Lakewood, Colorado, a municipal corporation; Tina L. Olsen, in her capacity as a Jefferson County, Colorado, County Judge; Thomas E. Vance, in his capacity as a Jefferson County, Colorado, County Judge; William Kilpatrick, individually and in his capacity as City of Golden, Colorado Police Chief; Matt Jurischk, individually and in his capacity as a City of Golden, Colorado Police Officer; The City of Golden, Colorado, a municipal corporation; Mary Logan, individually, as shareholder and as administrator of Grand Oaks Care Center in Lakewood, Colorado; Steve Kutcher, individually and as head nurse of Grand Oaks Care Center in Lakewood, Colorado; Donald Logan, individually and as assistant manager of Grand Oaks Care Center in Lakewood, Colorado; Geri-Care, Inc. d/b/a Grand Oaks Care Center, in Lakewood, Colorado; David R. Gloss, individually and as an agent of Jefferson County, Colorado, and as an agent of The State of Colorado; Stephenie D. Lorimer; "The Visitor", appointed by Judge James D. Zimmerman, pursuant to Colorado Revised Statutes 15-14-305, in his or her capacity as court-appointed "Visitor"; John S. Gleason, individually and in his capacity as Colorado Supreme Court Attorney Regulation Counsel; Louise Culberson-Smith, individually and in her capacity as a Colorado Supreme Court Assistant Attorney Regulation Counsel; The Colorado Supreme Court Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel; Carla Martin, individually and in her former capacity as general manager of Golden Pond Senior Living, LLC; Golden Pond Senior Living, LLC, a Colorado corporation; Henry Melton, in his capacity as Executive Director of Golden Pond Senior Living, LLC; Enrico Galimberti, individually and in his capacity as a deputy Jefferson County Sheriff; Donald Tait, in his capacity as a supervising deputy Jefferson County Sheriff; Ted Mink, in his capacity as Jefferson County Sheriff; Gayle King; Troy King; Joan Scheumann; Erik Scheumann; Eileen Bidwelll and L. Jeffrey Bidwell, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit |
Submitted on the briefs:* Beverly Mann, pro se.
Elizabeth C. Moran, Alyson Ray Rutberg, Donald E. Lake, III, Pryor Johnson Carney Karr Nixon, P.C., Greenwood Village, Colorado for Golden Pond Senior Living, LLC, Henry Melton, and Carla Martin, Defendants-Appellees.
J. Andrew Nathan, Andrew J. Fisher, Nathan, Bremer, Dumm & Myers, P.C., Denver, Colorado for William Kilpatrick, Matt Jurischk and The City of Golden, Defendants-Appellees.
John W. Suthers, Friedrick C. Haines, Office of the Colorado Attorney General, Denver, Colorado for Brian D. Boatright, James D. Zimmerman, Frederic B. Rodgers, R. Brooke Jackson, The First Judicial District of the State of Colorado, The State of Colorado, Tina L. Olsen, Thomas E. Vance, John S. Gleason, Louise Culberson-Smith, and The Colorado Supreme Court Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel, Defendants-Appellees.
Before BARRETT, PORFILIO, and BALDOCK, Circuit Judges.
Plaintiff-Appellant Beverly Mann appeals from the district court's sua sponte dismissal of her complaint for lack of jurisdiction under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine1. She also challenges its order denying her request to file the complaint under seal and seeks reconsideration of orders issued by this court while her appeal was pending. Exercising our jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm the judgment of the district court. We also decline to vacate any previous rulings issued by motions panels of this court during the pendency of this appeal.
At the heart of this case are two Colorado probate court orders that determined that Beverly's2 elderly father, Joseph Mann, is incapacitated and appointed defendant Gayle King as his guardian and conservator of his estate. The unfortunate circumstances surrounding the court's issuance of these orders are described in detail in Beverly's complaint. To summarize, Joseph was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in mid-2004. In October 2004, he left his hometown of Chicago, where he lived with Beverly, for what was to be a short trip to visit his granddaughter, King, in Golden, Colorado. While in Colorado, however, he broke his elbow and had to be hospitalized, at which point his mental health deteriorated rapidly. On November 4, 2004, after he was released from the hospital, Joseph executed a health-care power-of-attorney prepared by defendant attorney Stephenie Lorimer. This document, which is attached to the complaint, purports to revoke all prior powers-of-attorney, designates King as Joseph's attorney-in-fact, and also states that King is his preferred guardian in the event that he is deemed incapacitated.
Empowered by this power-of-attorney, King placed Joseph in defendant Golden Pond Senior Living Center and obtained a temporary restraining order that prohibited Beverly from contacting him. Beverly, having traveled to Colorado, tried several times to visit Joseph at Golden Pond and even enlisted the help of the local police. Each time, however, employees of Golden Pond, on King's orders and in compliance with the restraining order, refused to let Beverly see her father. As a result, Beverly claims that she has not seen or spoken to her father since November 28, 2004, when she visited him at the Grand Oaks Nursing Home, where he lived briefly before being moved to Golden Pond.
On December 4, 2004, King filed a petition under the Colorado probate code that requested a determination that Joseph was incapacitated and sought appointment as his guardian. In a separate petition, she sought appointment as the conservator of Joseph's estate. With the court's permission, Beverly intervened in the action as an interested person and filed objections to the petitions on multiple grounds. She argued primarily that King had manipulated Joseph into signing the November 4, 2004, power-of-attorney at a time when he lacked capacity to make such decisions. She argued that the power-of-attorney was, therefore, null and void and could not operate to void any prior powers-of-attorney, including a 1998 power-of-attorney that Joseph had executed, designating Beverly as his attorney-in-fact. Defendant state court judge Brian Boatright held a hearing on the petitions on April 19, 2005. He excused Joseph from attending the hearing based on a motion filed by Joseph's court-appointed attorney, defendant David Gloss. Beverly, however, attended the hearing, testified, and questioned witnesses.
On May 9, 2005, and May 11, 2005, Judge Boatright issued orders granting the petitions for guardianship and conservatorship, respectively. In the guardianship order, which is attached to the complaint, the court found by clear and convincing evidence that Joseph was an incapacitated person as a result of severe memory loss caused by Alzheimer's disease. With respect to the appointment of King, the court stated that it "ha[d] considered the wishes of the respondent [Joseph] concerning the selection of the guardian as filed in the visitor's report and reiterated by respondent's Court appointed attorney." R. doc. 1, attach. 5 at 1.
The guardianship order grants King broad control over Beverly's access to Joseph. It prohibits Beverly from speaking to Joseph in person or by telephone without King's consent and provides that Beverly may send letters and videotapes to Joseph, subject to pre-screening by King. It also states that any correspondence that Beverly sends "shall in no manner be disparaging towards the rest of the family, the Ward's residence in Colorado or the court proceedings granting Guardianship and Conservatorship to Mrs. King." Id., attach. 5 at 2. Although Beverly filed numerous motions in the probate court challenging the guardianship and conservatorship orders, she did not appeal the orders to the Colorado Court of Appeals.
On November 29, 2005, Beverly filed a complaint in U.S. District Court on behalf of herself and Joseph against 37 defendants. Among them is every state judge who had any involvement in the probate court proceedings; the State of Colorado and its First Judicial District; Jefferson County and its sheriff's department; the City of Lakewood, its City Attorney, and some of its police officers; the City of Golden and some of its police officers; both of the assisted-living centers that have housed Joseph; Joseph's court-appointed attorney and the statutorily-designated "visitor"; the office of Colorado's Attorney Regulation Counsel and some of its employees; King, her family, and her attorney; and Beverly's sisters and their husbands. The thrust of the lawsuit is to enjoin various orders issued by the probate court, most importantly those appointing King as guardian and conservator. The complaint also seeks "an emergency writ of habeas corpus or other emergency writ," R. doc. 1 at 11, requiring Joseph's production in c...
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