Stevens v. Redwing, 96-2197

Citation146 F.3d 538
Decision Date29 May 1998
Docket NumberNo. 96-2197,96-2197
PartiesJames E. STEVENS, individually, Plaintiff-Appellant, Jami Lynn Stevens, a minor, by next friend James E. Stevens, Plaintiff, v. Rebecca J. REDWING; John S. Redwing; Ricky E. Jones; C. Curtis Holmes, Defendants-Appellees.
CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (8th Circuit)

Daniel P. Card, II, St. Louis, MO, argued, for Appellant.

Mark H. Zoole, St. Louis, MO, argued, for Appellee.

Before HANSEN, JOHN R. GIBSON, and MORRIS SHEPPARD ARNOLD, Circuit Judges.

HANSEN, Circuit Judge.

James E. Stevens brought this diversity suit for money damages, alleging that the defendants committed several state law torts against him when Rebecca and John Redwing obtained custody of his minor daughter, Jami Lynn Stevens. The district court 1 dismissed Stevens' complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction over the defendants. Stevens had filed an amended complaint adding a false imprisonment claim on Jami Lynn's behalf and a 42 U.S.C. § 1985 conspiracy claim. The district court dismissed the amended complaint as well, ruling that the added counts failed to state claims upon which relief could be granted. Stevens appeals, and we affirm.

I.

James Stevens is currently serving a 200-year sentence of imprisonment with the Missouri Department of Corrections for a 1971 second degree murder conviction. While on parole, he married Sarah L. Sanders, and in April 1990, their daughter, Jami Lynn, was born. In December 1991, Stevens' wife died in an automobile accident. Stevens continued to have custody of his young daughter, Jami Lynn, until December 1992, when he was returned to prison on a parole violation and subsequent conviction. At that time, the child's maternal grandparents, the Sanders, began to care for Jami Lynn. In early 1993, Stevens consented to their appointment as guardians and conservators for his daughter. His formal consent filed with the probate division of the Circuit Court of Stone County, Missouri, recited that "I understand that I shall not have any right or claim to control or custody of such child...." (Jt.App. at 136.)

In March 1993, the child's maternal aunt, Rebecca Redwing, came to Missouri from her home in Georgia and took Jami Lynn back to Georgia to live with her and her husband, John Redwing, with the consent of the guardians and conservators, the custodial grandparents, one of whom was then in ill health. The Redwings then sought permanent custody of Jami Lynn through the Georgia state juvenile court. The Sanders consented to a change of custody in the Georgia proceeding without the prior approval of the Missouri probate court. Stevens filed a motion to dismiss the Georgia custody proceedings with the Georgia court and removed the case to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. The federal court remanded the case back to the state court. On June 29, 1993, Judge George F. Nunn, Jr., Judge of the Superior Court of Houston County, Georgia, awarded the Redwings permanent custody of Jami Lynn. Stevens took an appeal of the permanent custody order to the Georgia Court of Appeals which dismissed it for procedural failures. His petition for certiorari to the Georgia Supreme Court was denied. The grandparents then petitioned the Missouri state probate court to terminate their guardianship of Jami Lynn due to their health problems. Stevens did not appear in person in the Missouri action (because he was incarcerated), but he did file numerous motions and written objections to the proceeding which the Missouri probate court overruled. (See Jt.App. at 216-18.) The Missouri probate court terminated the grandparents' guardianship of Jami Lynn on October 4, 1993, and relinquished jurisdiction of the child to the state of Georgia. Stevens filed a notice of appeal with the probate court, but that court apparently never processed the appeal.

In January 1995, the Redwings filed a petition in Georgia seeking to terminate Stevens' parental rights on grounds that he had sexually abused Jami Lynn. This termination action was pending when Stevens filed the suit now at bar. A previous petition to terminate Stevens' parental rights filed by the Redwings in Georgia had been dismissed because the court found that Stevens had insufficient contacts with Georgia to justify jurisdiction over him.

On March 3, 1995, Stevens filed the present suit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, seeking money damages for various torts. His complaint named as defendants Rebecca and John Redwing (the child's aunt and uncle who live in Georgia and who then (and now) had and have actual physical custody of Jami Lynn), Ricky E. Jones (their attorney in Georgia), and C. Curtis Holmes (a psychologist in Georgia who concluded Jami Lynn had suffered sexual abuse). 2 Stevens' complaint attempts to set forth several state law torts allegedly committed by the defendants: conspiracy to interfere with his custody rights, conspiracy to interfere with a contract, conspiracy to harbor a child, conspiracy to alienate the affections of his daughter, defamation, malicious prosecution, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The defendants moved the district court to dismiss the claims against them for lack of personal jurisdiction, asserting that there was no basis for personal jurisdiction under the Missouri long-arm statute and that they had no minimum contacts with the state of Missouri to satisfy traditional notions of justice and fair play. Stevens resisted the motion, asserting that the defendants had purposefully availed themselves of the benefits and protections of Missouri laws so as to be subject to the court's personal jurisdiction. On April 11, 1996, the district court granted the defendants' motion to dismiss Stevens' complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction and also dismissed Stevens' amended complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. Stevens timely filed this appeal.

Subsequently, on September 9, 1996, the Georgia juvenile court held an adjudicatory hearing on the Redwings' petition to terminate Stevens' parental rights. The Redwings offered the testimony of C. Curtis Holmes, the psychologist who had evaluated Jami Lynn and concluded that she had been sexually abused by her father. Stevens was personally represented by appointed counsel in the Georgia termination proceedings and testified via a telephone deposition. On October 17, 1996, the Georgia juvenile court found that Stevens had sexually abused his daughter, and the court terminated Stevens' parental rights. Stevens' court-appointed attorney took no appeal even though Stevens requested him to do so. The defendants have provided us with the certified record of the Georgia termination proceedings and have moved to dismiss this appeal as moot on the basis of the termination of Stevens' parental rights.

II.

"The federal court in a diversity case must determine whether [the] defendant is subject to the court's jurisdiction under the state long-arm statute, and if so, whether exercise of that jurisdiction comports with due process." Moog World Trade Corp. v. Bancomer, S.A., 90 F.3d 1382, 1384 (8th Cir.1996). This two-part analysis requires us first to ask whether the activity of the defendant falls within the scope of the state statute. Portnoy v. Defiance, Inc., 951 F.2d 169, 171 (8th Cir.1991). Second, we ask whether the assertion of jurisdiction violates federal due process by considering the defendant's minimum contacts with the forum: The suit must not "offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice." Id. (quoting International Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 316, 66 S.Ct. 154, 90 L.Ed. 95 (1945)). "Jurisdiction must be based on the act or conduct set forth in the statute ... and the cause of action must arise from the nonresident defendant's activities in Missouri." Moog World Trade Corp., 90 F.3d at 1384 (internal quotations omitted). To survive a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, the plaintiff bears the burden of demonstrating, by a prima facie showing, that personal jurisdiction exists. Id.; Digi-Tel Holdings v. Proteq Telecomm. (PTE), Ltd., 89 F.3d 519, 522 (8th Cir.1996). We review de novo the issue of whether the plaintiff has presented a prima facie showing of personal jurisdiction, Digi-Tel Holdings, 89 F.3d at 522, and "we may affirm the district court's judgment on any basis supported by the record." Zotos v. Lindbergh Sch. Dist., 121 F.3d 356, 362 (8th Cir.1997) (internal quotations omitted).

To determine whether the court has personal jurisdiction over the defendants, we first consider whether Stevens has made a prima facie showing that the claims made in his suit fall within the scope of the Missouri long-arm statute. The Missouri long-arm statute provides in pertinent part that Missouri courts have personal jurisdiction over nonresidents who either make a contract within Missouri or commit a tortious act within Missouri. Mo.Rev.Stat. § 506.500.1 (1994). When considering whether personal jurisdiction exists under the long-arm statute, it is permissible to consider matters outside the pleadings. "[W]hen a question of the District Court's jurisdiction is raised, either by a party or by the court on its own motion, the court may inquire, by affidavits or otherwise, into the facts as they exist." Land v. Dollar, 330 U.S. 731, 735 n. 4, 67 S.Ct. 1009, 91 L.Ed. 1209 (1947) (internal citations omitted), overruled by implication on other grounds by Larson v. Domestic & Foreign Commerce Corp., 337 U.S. 682, 69 S.Ct. 1457, 93 L.Ed. 1628 (1949). It is clear from the affidavits and other record evidence in this case that Stevens' causes of action do not fall within the state long-arm statute.

Stevens' first cause of action alleges a conspiracy to interfere with his custody of Jami Lynn. In Missouri, interference with custody may only be asserted by one who...

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