Gabriel Cassell v. The County of Ramsey

United States Court of Appeals
For the Eighth Circuit
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No. 12-1775
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Gabriel Cassell
lllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiff - Appellant
v.
The County of Ramsey; Ramsey County
District Court Administration; Ramsey
County Guardian Ad Litem Program; Ramsey
County Child Support Enforcement; Susan Gaertner,
Ramsey County Attorney; Attorney Autumn Tomkins;
Joan Fitzgerald; Chief Judge Kathleen Gearin; Judge John T.
Finley; Judge Steven D. Wheeler; Judge Edward J. Cleary;
Judge M. Michael Monahan; Judge George T. Stephenson;
Judge Dale B. Lindman; Judge John Van De North;
Judge Diane Alshouse; Referee Charles H. Williams, Jr.;
Referee Mary E. Madden; Magistrate Brad A. Johnson;
Magistrate Colia F. Ceisel; Olivia Jassah Cassell;
Attorney Julie L. La Fleur; Attorney Amanda L. Hagen; and
Hansen Dordell Bradt Odlaug & Bradt, PLLC
lllllllllllllllllllll Defendants - Appellees
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Appeal from United States District Court
for the District of Minnesota - Minneapolis
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Submitted: November 6, 2012
Filed: November 7, 2012
[Unpublished]
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Before LOKEN, BOWMAN, and COLLOTON, Circuit Judges.
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PER CURIAM.
Gabriel Cassell appeals the district court’s1 judgment granting defendants’
motions to dismiss his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action, and denying as moot his motion for
a preliminary injunction. Following careful review, we conclude that Cassell’s
complaint, which sought to overturn state-court rulings made in the course of five
years of child custody and support litigation, was properly dismissed. See Skit Int’l,
Ltd. v. DAC Tech. of Ark., Inc., 487 F.3d 1154, 1156-57 (8th Cir. 2007) (de novo
review of district court’s dismissal under Rooker-Feldman2 doctrine, which prohibits
lower federal courts from exercising appellate review of state-court judgments);
Fielder v. Credit Acceptance Corp., 188 F.3d 1031, 1035-36 (8th Cir. 1999) (generally
no fraud exception to Rooker-Feldman); see also Middlesex County Ethics Comm. v.
Garden State Bar Ass’n, 457 U.S. 423, 431-32 (1982) (no federal interference with
pending state judicial proceedings absent extraordinary circumstances).
Accordingly, we affirm. See 8th Cir. R. 47B.
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1
The Honorable John R. Tunheim, United States District Judge for the District
of Minnesota, adopting the report and recommendations of the Honorable Tony N.
Leung, United States Magistrate Judge for the District of Minnesota.
2
See Dist. of Columbia Ct. of Appeals v. Feldman, 460 U.S. 462 (1983); Rooker
v. Fid. Trust Co., 263 U.S. 413 (1923).
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