Opinion
No. 18-11657
07-18-2019
CAROL M. KAM, Plaintiff - Appellant v. JOHN B. PEYTON, JR., Defendant - Appellee
Summary Calendar Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas
USDC No. 3:18-CV-1447 Before JONES, HIGGINSON, and OLDHAM, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM:
Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR. R. 47.5.4. --------
This is an appeal from a district's court dismissal, pursuant to the Rooker-Feldman doctrine, of the Appellant's claims relating to a probate matter that was fully litigated, decided, and upheld in Texas state courts. The Appellant filed a variety of pro se claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the state judge who presided over the original probate matter, predicated upon the Appellant's theory that the judge was without jurisdiction to preside over the dispute. The district court, upon the recommendation of a magistrate judge, characterized the Appellant's claims as a thinly-veiled collateral attack on the state courts' final judgment and dismissed the claims under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine as articulated by this court in Phinizy v. State of Ala., 847 F.2d 282, 284 (5th Cir. 1988). After a careful review of the parties' briefs, the district court's decision, and applicable case law, this court AFFIRMS the district court's decision for substantially the same reasons articulated in the magistrate's Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendation and adopted by the district court in that case.