Peterson v. Sheran
| Decision Date | 05 December 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 79-1685,79-1685 |
| Citation | 635 F.2d 1335 |
| Parties | Gordon C. PETERSON, Appellant, v. Robert J. SHERAN, Fallon Kelly, Harry H. MacLaughlin, James C. Otis, C. Donald Peterson, W. F. Rogosheske, George M. Scott, John Todd, and Lawrence R. Yetka, Members of the Supreme Court of the State of Minnesota, John McCarthy, Clerk of the Supreme Court of Minnesota, Kenneth M. Anderson, Norman D. Arvesen, Thomas H. Carey, Gerald T. Carroll, Jr., Conrad M. Fredin, Kelton Gage, Arthur N. Goodman, James T. Hale, William T. Hedeen, Dr. Phillip C. Helland, Jared How, Charles T. Hvass, Mrs. Irene Janski, Kenneth F. Kirwin, Gerald E. Magnuson, William I. Novak, Harding A. Orren, Allen I. Saeks, Jerome B. Simon, William P. Van Evera, Sherman Winthrop, Mrs. Martha Zachary, Members of the State Board of Professional Responsibility, and R. Walter Bachman, Director, and C. Allen Dosland, Charles T. Barnes, Robert F. Collins, Harry Costello, Morris Dickel, Gerald Rufer, and James R. Schwebel, Members of the State Board of Law Examiners, and the Minnesota State Bar Association, Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Robert J. Bruno, Burnsville, Minn., for appellant.
Erica K. Jacobson, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., St. Paul, Minn., for appellees.
Before LAY, Chief Judge, and HENLEY and McMILLIAN, Circuit Judges.
Appellant Gordon C. Peterson, a disbarred attorney, appeals from an order of the district court dismissing his action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and 28 U.S.C. § 1343 for a declaratory judgment that he has the right to practice law in Minnesota and for an injunction compelling reinstatement of his license to practice by appellees, who include members of the Supreme Court of Minnesota and the clerk of that court. Appellant contended that the Minnesota Supreme Court's continuing refusal to reinstate his license to practice law violated due process and equal protection of the laws under the fourteenth amendment and violated his rights under the first amendment, made applicable to the states under the fourteenth amendment. The district court dismissed the due process and first amendment claims for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and after a hearing on the merits dismissed the equal protection claim as groundless. For the reasons discussed below, we vacate in part and affirm in part the judgment of dismissal on different grounds.
We first note that the briefs name as appellees forty individuals and the Minnesota Bar Association, and the district court's judgment appears to apply to all of them. We are informed, however, that the record shows only thirteen of the individual appellees were ever served a summons in this lawsuit. Consequently, the district court had no personal jurisdiction over parties not served; and, therefore, we vacate the judgment against them and dismiss the appeal from that part of the judgment. 1
On appeal appellant argues first that the district court erred in finding lack of subject matter jurisdiction over his due process claim. Appellant alleges that he was denied due process when the Minnesota Supreme Court denied him reinstatement to the state bar. Appellant argues that the court was biased against him, the standards for reinstatement were too vague and the language used during the reinstatement proceedings was unduly harsh in describing the misconduct for which appellant was originally disbarred. Appellant also claims that his first amendment rights were violated by improper consideration in the reinstatement proceedings of appellant's public criticism of policies of the Minnesota bar. 2 Although the district court did not consider the latter claim separately, the district court found that appellant had suffered no invidious discrimination on the basis of political opposition to bar disciplinary policies. Finally, appellant argues that the district court wrongfully found meritless his equal protection claim that he suffered unconstitutional discrimination because he was more severely disciplined than other attorneys found to have engaged in misconduct.
The facts are set forth in the district court's opinion. We set forth only briefly the background of this case. Appellant was disbarred from practicing law in the Minnesota courts in 1961 for "reprehensible" conduct. In re Application for Discipline of Peterson, 260 Minn. 339, 110 N.W.2d 9 (1961). He has repeatedly applied for reinstatement to the state bar. In re Application for Reinstatement of Peterson, Minn., 274 N.W.2d 922 (1979); In re Application for Reinstatement of Peterson, 288 Minn. 550, 181 N.W.2d 341 (1970); In re Application for Reinstatement of Peterson, 275 Minn. 559, 146 N.W.2d 768 (1968). While disbarred, appellant sought to enter his name in an election for Minnesota Supreme Court judge, but the Supreme Court of Minnesota ruled him ineligible. In re Daly, 294 Minn. 351, 200 N.W.2d 913, cert. denied, 409 U.S. 1041, 93 S.Ct. 528, 34 L.Ed.2d 491 (1972). He unsuccessfully challenged this determination of his ineligibility in state court, Peterson v. Knutson, 305 Minn. 53, 233 N.W.2d 716 (1975), and in federal court, Peterson v. Knutson, 367 F.Supp. 515 (D.Minn.1973), aff'd, 505 F.2d 736 (8th Cir. 1974).
The Minnesota Supreme Court rejected appellant's latest application for reinstatement to the bar, a decision which agreed with preliminary recommendations of the Director of the Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board of the Minnesota bar and of a state judge appointed as a referee to hear the case. The Minnesota Supreme Court in its decision expressed concern over the "unfortunate consequences" when appellant, although informing a federal trial court of his disbarment, represented a defendant in a criminal case. 3 In re Application for Reinstatement of Peterson, supra, 274 N.W.2d at 924. The Minnesota Supreme Court was also concerned that appellant refused to acknowledge the unethical conduct for which he was originally disbarred. Id. In this court appellant contends that he did not engage in the unethical conduct which was the basis of his disbarment. The merits under state law of that decision, however, are beyond the scope of our review.
Appellant cites Theard v. United States, 354 U.S. 278, 77 S.Ct. 1274, 1 L.Ed.2d 1342 (1957), as authority for the proposition that his continuing disbarment was improper. Theard, however, involved exclusion of an attorney from the federal bar and is not precedent for federal review of state law grounds for a decision to exclude an attorney from the state's bar. Theard would apply only to an attorney's status before the federal bar. Our decision in this case, of course, has no bearing upon appellant's eligibility for membership in the federal bar or any proceeding that may involve his status in regard to the federal bar.
Preliminarily, we must respond to appellees' contention that federal courts generally lack subject matter jurisdiction over deprivations of federal constitutional rights alleged to have occurred in state judicial proceedings. Appellees' argument seems to be that, because decisions of the highest state court on federal constitutional issues can only be reviewed in the United States Supreme Court, relief from deprivations of constitutional rights in state judicial proceedings is not available under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and 28 U.S.C. § 1343. We reject this contention. Federal courts have jurisdiction over claims that state judicial proceedings have resulted in deprivations of federal constitutional rights as long as the claims are otherwise properly before the federal courts. 4 See, e. g., Harris County Comm'rs Court v. Moore, 420 U.S. 77, 88-89, 95 S.Ct. 870, 877, 43 L.Ed.2d 32 (1975); American Trial Lawyers Ass'n v. New Jersey Supreme Court, 409 U.S. 467, 93 S.Ct. 627, 34 L.Ed.2d 651 (1973) (per curiam); Mitchum v. Foster, 407 U.S. 225, 92 S.Ct. 2151, 32 L.Ed.2d 705 (1972); England v. Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners, 375 U.S. 411, 84 S.Ct. 461, 11 L.Ed.2d 440 (1964) (hereinafter England ); Ex Parte Young, 209 U.S. 123, 28 S.Ct. 441, 52 L.Ed. 714 (1908); Shipp v. Todd, 568 F.2d 133 (9th Cir. 1978) (per curiam); Getty v. Reed, 547 F.2d 971 (6th Cir. 1977); Timmerman v. Brown, 528 F.2d 811 (4th Cir. 1975); Hansen v. Ahlgrimm, 520 F.2d 768 (7th Cir. 1975); Goodrich v. Supreme Court, 511 F.2d 316, 318 n.8 (8th Cir. 1975); Neal v. Brim, 506 F.2d 6 (5th Cir. 1975); see Jenson v. Olson, 353 F.2d 825 (8th Cir. 1965).
We conclude, however, that in the circumstances of the present case appellant is foreclosed from presenting his constitutional claims in federal court. This action was filed in federal district court during the pendency of proceedings in the Minnesota courts on appellant's latest application for reinstatement to the Minnesota bar. The district court 5 abstained from deciding appellant's constitutional claims, stayed its proceedings, and retained jurisdiction 6 pending a final decision on appellant's application for reinstatement by the Minnesota court. See American Trial Lawyers Ass'n v. New Jersey Supreme Court, supra, 409 U.S. at 469, 93 S.Ct. 627, 629, 34 L.Ed.2d 651; Railroad Comm'n v. Pullman Co., 312 U.S. 496, 61 S.Ct. 643, 85 L.Ed. 971 (1941) (hereinafter Pullman ); Warren v. Government National Mortgage Ass'n, 443 F.2d 624 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 404 U.S. 886, 92 S.Ct. 220, 30 L.Ed.2d 169 (1971).
Appellant argues that the Minnesota Supreme Court was biased against him and that he would not receive a real opportunity to raise his claims before that court. However, he alleges only a general bias because of previous proceedings in his case and hypothetical reactions by the state supreme court judges to his public criticism of the state judiciary and his attempt to become a candidate for a seat on that court. He did not raise the bias issue in the proceedings before the Minnesota Supreme Court. In sum, his allegations are not substantial enough to make us assume that the court...
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