Cook v. Baca

Summarized by Steven Mulligan , Coan, Payton & Payne, LLC
12 years 11 months ago

Citation:

2013 WL 828814

Tag(s):

Ruling:

The court affirmed the dismissal of pro se Appellant’s complaint in part and remanded with instructions to modify a portion of the dismissal from a dismissal with prejudice to without prejudice for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. The Court found that the Appellant lacked standing to argue violation of the automatic stay because the BAP had already found that such claims belong to the bankruptcy estate so that the Appellant lacked standing to bring such arguments. Further, the BAP had found that that the bankruptcy trustee had not abandoned any claims thereby depriving the Appellant of standing to bring those claims. The BAP’s rulings precluded any re-argument by the Appellant.

Procedural context:

Appellant appealed the district court’s orders in a civil rights case that dismissed his first amended complaint for failure to state a claim, denied his motion to re-open and for reconsideration, and denied his motion for leave to amend.

Facts:

The Appellant had alleged numerous violations of his constitutional rights and various federal statutes and his various cases wound their way through the state district court, the state court of appeals, the state supreme court, the bankruptcy court, the BAP, the US District Court, and the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Bankruptcy Court had dismissed an Adversary Proceeding that the Appellant had brought which was affirmed by the BAP. A similar case was proceeding in the State court system giving rise to the Court’s discussion of the Rooker-Feldman doctrine. Finally, the Appellant attempted to bring a new action in the US District court which led to this appeal.

Judge(s):

Gorsuch, Anderson, and Ebel

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