Cooks v. City of Los Angeles Police Department ( 2020 )

1 . 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 In re CHARLES R. COOKS, AT7962, Case No. 20-cv-04352-CRB (PR) 8 Plaintiff. ORDER OF DISMISSAL 9 (ECF Nos. 3 & 4) 10 11 12 Plaintiff, a state prisoner incarcerated at California State Prison, Solano, has filed a pro se 13 action seeking to appeal/vacate the dismissal of two civil rights actions he filed in state superior 14 court. The first case, Amador County Superior Court case number 17-cv-1004, he filed against 15 various Los Angeles Police Department employees and was dismissed by the Amador County 16 Superior Court on December 7, 2018, and the second case, Merced County Superior Court case 17 number 17-cv-03326, he filed against various Los Angeles County Superior Court employees and 18 was dismissed by the Merced County Superior Court on March 3, 2018. 19 Plaintiff’s action must be DISMISSED because it is well established that lower federal 20 courts are without subject matter jurisdiction to review state court decisions. See District of 21 Columbia Court of Appeals v. Feldman, 460 U.S. 462, 486-87 (1983); Rooker v. Fidelity Trust 22 Co., 263 U.S. 413, 416 (1923); see also Kougasian v. TMSL, Inc., 359 F.3d 1136, 1139 (9th Cir. 23 2004) (Rooker-Feldman doctrine bars federal district courts “from exercising subject matter 24 jurisdiction over a suit that is a de facto appeal from a state court judgment.”). It matters not that 25 the state court judgment at issue was not made by the highest state court, see Worldwide Church 26 of God v. McNair, 805 F.2d 888, 893 n.3 (9th Cir. 1986), or that federal constitutional issues are at 27 stake, see Branson v. Nott, 62 F.3d 287, 291 (9th Cir. 1995); Mullins v. Oregon, 57 F.3d 789, 792 1 But based solely on his affidavit of poverty, plaintiff’s motion (ECF No. 4) to proceed in 2 || forma pauperis is GRANTED. 3 The clerk is instructed to terminate all other pending motions (see ECF No. 3) as moot and 4 || to close the case. 5 IT IS SO ORDERED. 6 || Dated: September 3, 2020 7 CHARLES R. BREYER 8 United States District Judge 9 10 11 g 12 13 © 15 16 & 17 Z 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28