Opinion
No. 14-3637
03-20-2015
RICHARD S. DENIS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. RIVERWALK HOLDINGS, LTD., and CIRCUIT COURT OF BROWN COUNTY, WISCONSIN, Defendants-Appellees.
NONPRECEDENTIAL DISPOSITION
To be cited only in accordance with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1
Before DANIEL A. MANION, Circuit Judge ILANA DIAMOND ROVNER, Circuit Judge DIANE S. SYKES, Circuit Judge Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. No. 14-C-1341 William C. Griesbach, Chief Judge.
ORDER
Richard Denis appeals the dismissal of his civil-rights suit asserting that he was denied due process in a state-court debt-collection proceeding brought against him. We affirm.
As set forth in Denis's complaint, a Wisconsin state court violated his due process rights in a debt-collection suit by entering summary judgment against him rather than acceding to his request to have the case be decided by a jury. After the summary judgment was affirmed by a state appellate court, Riverwalk Holdings, Ltd. v. Denis, 847 N.W.2d 426 (Wis. Ct. App. 2014), and his petition for review denied by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Riverwalk Holdings, Ltd. v. Denis, 855 N.W.2d 695 (Wis. 2014), Denis brought this suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Riverwalk Holdings, the creditor, and the state trial court. At screening, 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2), the district court pointed out that federal courts lack jurisdiction to review cases that attack state-court judgments, and it dismissed Denis's complaint under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine. See D.C. Ct. of App. v. Feldman, 460 U.S. 462, 486 (1983); Rooker v. Fid. Trust Co., 263 U.S. 413, 416 (1923).
On appeal Denis asserts that the district court overlooked his due-process claim that he was denied his right to a jury trial. But this injury of which he complains was caused by the state court's grant of summary judgment. The district court correctly concluded that Rooker-Feldman blocks federal courts from entertaining suits seeking to redress injuries caused by state-court judgments. See Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Saudi Basic Indus. Corp., 544 U.S. 280, 284 (2005); Harold v. Steel, 773 F.3d 884, 885 (7th Cir. 2014).
AFFIRMED.