Stratton v. Mecklenburg Cnty. Dep't of Soc. Servs., 11-2131
| Decision Date | 31 May 2013 |
| Docket Number | No. 11-2131,11-2131 |
| Parties | SOLOMON STRATTON, Plaintiff - Appellant, v. MECKLENBURG COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES; US DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES; UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL CAROLINAS; FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS; COUNCIL FOR CHILDREN'S RIGHTS; BRETT LOFTIS; MARTHA CURREN; DAVID CAYER; YVONNE MIMS-EVANS; ELIZABETH MILLER-KILLEGREW; MARGARET SHARPE; SIDNEY EAGLES; JOHN MARTIN; MARTHA GEER; PATRICIA TIMMONS-GOODSEN; MECKLENBURG COUNTY; RICHARD JACOBSEN; TYRONE WADE; TWYLA HOLLINGSWORTH; DONNA FAYKO; GRETCHEN CALDWELL; SHERRI GLENN; DAVID FEE; LISA LOOBY; SUSAN MILLER; KATHERINE DORMINEY; ROBERT ADDEN; RICHARD LUCY; MICHAEL SCHMIDT; CAROLINAS HEALTHCARE SYSTEM, Defendants - Appellees. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (4th Circuit) |
Court-Assigned Amicus Counsel.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, at Charlotte. David C. Norton, District Judge. (3:10-cv-00137-DCN-KM)
Before KING, GREGORY, and KEENAN, Circuit Judges.
ARGUED: Lucas D. Bradley, UGA APPELLATE LITIGATION CLINIC, Athens, Georgia, for Court-Assigned Amicus Counsel. Robert Evans Harrington, ROBINSON, BRADSHAW & HINSON, PA, Charlotte, North Carolina; Robert S. Adden, Jr., Charlotte, North Carolina, for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Peter B. Rutledge, Matthew V.H. Noller, UGA APPELLATE LITIGATION CLINIC, Athens, Georgia, for Court-Assigned Amicus Counsel. Sinead Noelle O'Doherty, Adam K. Doerr, ROBINSON, BRADSHAW & HINSON, PA, Charlotte, North Carolina, for Appellees Council for Children's Rights and Brett Loftis; Michael Gray Gibson, DEAN & GIBSON, LLP, Charlotte, North Carolina, for Appellee United Way of Central Carolinas. Grady L. Balentine, Jr., Special Deputy Attorney General, NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellees Martha Curren, David Cayer, Yvonne Mims-Evans, Elizabeth Miller-Killegrew, Margaret Sharpe, Sidney Eagles, John Martin, Martha Geer, and Patricia Timmons-Goodsen. Charles Evans Johnson, ROBINSON, BRADSHAW & HINSON, PA, Charlotte, North Carolina, for Appellee Carolinas Healthcare System. Kelly Suzanne Hughes, OGLETREE, DEAKINS, NASH, SMOAK & STEWART, PC, Charlotte, North Carolina, for Appellee Foundation for the Carolinas; Cynthia L. Van Horne, POYNER SPRUILL LLP, Charlotte, North Carolina, for Appellee Michael Schmidt; Richard Lucey, Charlotte, North Carolina, for Appellee Richard Lucey.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
Solomon Stratton appeals from the district court's Order of September 16, 2011, which adopted the report and recommendations of a magistrate judge and dismissed the operative complaint in this case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Rooker-Feldman doctrine. See Stratton v. Mecklenburg Cnty. Dep't of Soc. Svcs., 3:10-cv-00137 (W.D.N.C. Sept. 16, 2011), ECF No. 115 (the "Order").1 The complaint alleges that a centuries-old international child trafficking enterprise had orchestrated and caused the termination, by the state courts of North Carolina, of the parental rights of Jack and Kathy Stratton (sometimes referred to as the "Strattons") with respect to nine of their children. The complaint alleges eight claims involving a total of thirty defendants, including governmental entities, charitable organizations, and various judges and other individuals. As explained below, we are satisfied to affirm the dismissal by the district court, relying on the Rooker-Feldman and substantiality doctrines.
On March 22, 2010, Solomon Stratton and his father, Jack Stratton, filed their pro se complaint in the Western District of North Carolina. Six months later, on September 24, 2010, they filed an amended pro se complaint, which constitutes the operative complaint in this appeal (the "Complaint").2 Although the plaintiffs initially sued only one defendant, the Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services (the "County DSS"), the Complaint names twenty-nine additional defendants, including three governmental entities,3 several charitable organizations,4 and more than twenty individuals, eight of them North Carolina judges.5
The various claims generally stem from the state courts' termination of the parental rights of Jack and Kathy Stratton with regard to nine of their ten children, including plaintiff Solomon Stratton. The Complaint consists of sixty-four pages and more than 400 paragraphs. Its extensive allegations relate, inter alia, to the seizure in 2001 of the Stratton children by the County DSS, the termination of the Strattons' parental rights by the North Carolina courts, and the court-ordered placement of their children into foster care. For example, the Complaint alleges that the "[p]laintiffs and their family are victims of an Enterprise engaged in international child trafficking [that] seizes children for purposes of pedophilia and human child sacrifice." Complaint ¶ 443. It further alleges that these occurrences were part of what it denominates an "International Luciferian Child Trafficking Criminal Enterprise." Id. at 5. This enterprise is part of a "Rothschild-Rockefeller-Illuminati-Federal Reserve-New WorldOrder conspiracy" that began with the establishment of the Rothschild banking empire in 1744 in Frankfurt, Germany. Id. ¶ 359. Through the "Rothschild control of the issuance of money," the Rothschilds and the Illuminati were able to "systematically take over and control the governments of Europe." Id. ¶ 51. These conspirators thereafter successfully obtained control of the government of the United States, through the establishment of the Federal Reserve system, and they now control "every major business corporation," as well as "[e]very government on earth." Id. ¶¶ 73, 74.
As a result of the foregoing, the Complaint explains, our entire planet is "now operating under a Luciferian (Satanic) shadow world government." Complaint ¶ 74. In addition, the Complaint contends that "an international Satanic child trafficking conspiracy operates within 'child protective services' and the CIA," with "a CIA covert child trafficking operation" providing children "used by Satan worshippers for human sacrifices." Id. ¶¶ 101, 107. The Complaint continues in that same vein, alleging that "there are approximately four million practicing Satan worshippers across the United States, many of them operating at the highest levels of the United States government." Id. ¶ 102. In addition, "pedophile sex orgies with high ranking federal officials" occur at the White House and at the "Bohemian Grove," where, for more than 120years, "world leaders have . . . participate[d] in bizarre Satanic rituals." Id. ¶¶ 104, 109-10.
The Luciferian conspiracy allegations of the Complaint are interwoven into various descriptions of the state court proceedings concerning the Strattons that occurred more than ten years ago in North Carolina. According to the Complaint, the conspiracy procured the seizure of the Stratton children through the fabrication of various court documents, in order to obtain jurisdiction over the Stratton family and its members outside of their county of residence. It is alleged that, following the removal and detention of their children, the Strattons were not afforded the notices and hearings mandated under North Carolina law.6 The Complaint also alleges that the defendants' actions were motivated in part by the Strattons being Christians and their children biracial. It then alleges that, while in the custody of the County DSS, plaintiff Solomon Stratton was forced to attend public school against his will, and that he wassubjected to medical procedures to which neither he nor his parents consented.
On the basis of its extensive factual allegations, the Complaint identifies eight causes of action:
For relief, the Complaint seeks a declaration from the federal district court that "all orders and judgments used to kidnap and hold [the Stratton children] are void and vacated," plus damages in excess of two and one-half billion dollars. Complaint 63.
On December 18, 2000, the County DSS received a report that the children of Jack and Kathy Stratton, one of whom was plaintiff Solomon Stratton, were living in a home in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, with inadequate heat and food.7 The following day, several County DSS employees approached the Stratton home, where they observed the children. Later on...
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