Opinion
No. A05-28.
Filed September 6, 2005.
Appeal from the District Court, Ramsey County, File No. C6-04-6622.
Nancy C. Lazaryan, (pro se appellant)
Mike Hatch, Attorney General, John S. Garry, Assistant Attorney General, (for respondent Judge Marrinan)
Richard J. Thomas, Bryon G. Ascheman, Burke Thomas, Pllp, (for respondent Ronald Riach)
Considered and decided by Randall, Presiding Judge; Willis, Judge; and Parker, Judge.
This opinion will be unpublished and may not be cited except as provided by Minn. Stat. § 480A.08, subd. 3 (2004).
UNPUBLISHED OPINION
Appellant Nancy C. Lazaryan raised numerous objections to probate proceedings concerning her father's estate before respondent Judge Margaret Marrinan. Following several adverse rulings, appellant brought suit against Marrinan personally and the estate's special administrator, respondent Ronald Riach, alleging, respectively, violation of various constitutional rights and fraud. Respondent now appeals from the district court's dismissal of that suit for failure to state a claim as to both respondents. We affirm.
DECISION
When reviewing a dismissal for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted under Minn. R. Civ. P. 12.02(e), we consider de novo whether the complaint sets forth a legally sufficient claim for relief. Bodah v. Lakeville Motor Express, Inc., 663 N.W.2d 550, 553 (Minn. 2003). We consider only the facts alleged in the complaint, accepting those facts as true and construing all reasonable inferences in favor of the nonmoving parties. Id.
1. Appellant argues that the district court erred by dismissing her claims against respondent Judge Marrinan as barred by judicial immunity. The applicability of an immunity defense is a question of law. Johnson v. State, 553 N.W.2d 40, 45 (Minn. 1996). Judicial immunity provides that a judge cannot be held liable to anyone in a civil action for "acts done in the exercise of judicial authority." Linder v. Foster, 209 Minn. 43, 45, 295 N.W. 299, 300 (1940) (quotation omitted).
Appellant's allegations against respondent Judge Marrinan are exclusively concerned with actions taken in the exercise of the judiciary's statutory authority to administer the estate. See Minn. Stat. § 524.1-302(a) (2004) (providing a district court hearing a probate matter "has full power to make orders, judgments and decrees and take all other action necessary and proper to administer justice in the matters which come before it"). Those actions are protected by judicial immunity. Appellant's contention that her challenge to the constitutionality of the doctrine of judicial immunity must be decided by a jury has no legal support and is without merit.
2. Appellant argues that the district court erred by dismissing her claim that Riach made fraudulent statements to the court. The district court concluded that the statements had legal support and that Riach believed them to be true. See Specialized Tours, Inc. v. Hagen, 392 N.W.2d 520, 532 (Minn. 1986) (holding that elements of fraud include a false statement concerning a past or existing material fact susceptible of knowledge and knowledge of the falsity of the statement or uncertainty as to its truth).
Appellant argues that the district court was bound to accept as true, for the purposes of the motion to dismiss, her assertions concerning the joint-tenancy ownership she claims her father and mother exercised over certain disputed testamentary property. The existence of a joint tenancy is a legal question not entitled to a presumption of truth in the context of a motion to dismiss. See Papasan v. Allain, 478 U.S. 265, 286, 106 S. Ct. 2932, 2944 (1986) (observing that in considering a motion to dismiss, the court will consider "all the factual allegations in the complaint as true, [but is] not bound to accept as true a legal conclusion couched as a factual allegation").
As to appellant's argument alleging that her mother, defendant Wallace, was a victim of Riach's fraud, we observe that a special term panel of this court denied a motion filed by Lazaryan and Wallace requesting that Wallace be made a party to this matter. The fraud claim concerning Wallace therefore fails for lack of standing. Appellant did not state a fraud claim upon which relief could be granted.
As to the claim that Riach violated appellant's constitutional rights, because Riach is not a state actor, he is not susceptible to suit for depriving others of their constitutional rights. See Coller v. Guardian Angels Roman Catholic Church of Chaska, 294 N.W.2d 712, 716-17 (Minn. 1980) (holding that claims for constitutional deprivations only extend to state actions). Finally, appellant's claim that Riach defamed her in his testimony is also without merit. "[P]articipants in judicial and legislative proceedings are entitled to an absolute privilege, a grant of total immunity for false and defamatory statements regardless of the nature or intent of the speaker." Johnson v. Dirkswager, 315 N.W.2d 215, 220 (Minn. 1982).