CEB Prac. Guide § 2A.57 -- Defenses -- Collateral Estoppel -- The Rooker-Feldman Doctrine

In Truong v. Mountain Peaks Financial Services, Inc., 2013 WL 485763 (S.D.Cal. 2013), the District Court rejected application of the Rooker-Feldman doctrine and Noerr-Pennington doctrine to bar an FDCPA claim. Rooker–Feldman “is a narrow doctrine, confined to ‘cases brought by state-court losers complaining of injuries caused by state-court judgments rendered before the district court proceedings commenced and inviting district court… Read More

In Grant v. Unifund CCR Partners, --- F.Supp.2d ----, 2012 WL 379911 (C.D.Cal. 2012), Judge Snyder granted summary judgment based on the Rooker-Feldman doctrine.  A copy of the decision is here.   The Rooker–Feldman doctrine applies to “cases brought by state-court losers complaining of injuries caused by state-court judgments rendered before the district court proceedings commenced and inviting district court… Read More

In Santos v. LVNV Funding, LLC, 2012 WL 216398 (N.D.Cal. 2012), Judge Davila found that an FDCPA claim arising out of a debt collector’s failure to honor a settlement agreement in an underlying debt collection action was not protected by the Rooker-Feldman doctrine or the litigation privilege.  The facts were as follows.  Santos became delinquent on a consumer credit card… Read More

In Howard v. RJF Financial, LLC, 2012 WL 170904 (D.Ariz. 2012), Judge Snow held that the Rooker-Feldman ­doctrine prohibits a federal court from re-considering under the FDCPA a debt collector’s filing of a state court collection action on a debt that otherwise would have been barred by the applicable statute of limitations on such debt.   There is no issue… Read More

In Greenberg v. Hunt and Henriques, 2011 WL 4639833 (C.D.Cal. 2011) Judge Nguyen found a consumer collaterally estopped from pursuing an FDCPA case in federal court based on the improper filing and prosecution to judgment of a state court collection action.  The district court found that the plaintiff was collaterally estopped to challenge the state court action, and that the… Read More

In Cannon v. Spokane Merchants Ass'n, 2011 WL 3754697 (E.D.Wash. 2011), Judge Suko found an absence of federal jurisdiction under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine to hear Plaintiff’s FDCPA claim based on the manner in which the debt collector had obtained the underlying state court judgment on the debt.   The Ninth Circuit has since held that Rooker–Feldman does still apply to… Read More

In Martinez v. CACH, LLC, 2011 WL 2560251 (S.D.Cal. 2011), Judge Sabraw rejected a debt collector’s Rooker-Feldman argument.  Further, Judge Sabraw rejected the argument that a Rule 68 offer mooted the class-action proceedings because the net worth requirement of a class-action under the FDCPA was not met due to alter ego allegations.    Plaintiff is alleged to have incurred debt… Read More

In Weldon v. Asset Acceptance, LLC, 2011 WL 902018 (S.D.Ind. 2011), Judge Magnus-Stinson addressed the intersection between the Rooker-Feldman doctrine and res judicata with regard to a debt collector filing suit on a time-barred debt in state court.  Judge Magnus-Stinson held that the Rooker-Feldman doctrine did not deprive the district court of jurisdiction nor did res judicata provide the debt… Read More

In Bryant v. Gordon & Wong Law Group, P.C., --- F.Supp.2d ----, 2010 WL 339086 (E.D.Cal. 2010), Judge England barred Plaintiff's FDCPA claim under the Rooker-Feldman Doctrine, explaining:   The Rooker-Feldman Doctrine established the principle that federal district courts lack jurisdiction over suits that are, in substance, appeals from state court judgments. Rooker v. Fidelity Trust Co., 263 U.S. 413 (1923);… Read More

Although we assume that their FDCPA classes are quite good, we report that a district court magistrate in Tennessee refused an in pro per Plaintiff's request for an order requiring defense counsel to attend FDCPA classes at a local law school.  The case arose in Livinston-Cross v. Bank of America, 2009 WL 1471126 (M.D.Tenn. 2009), where Judge Campbell relied on the… Read More

On May 8, 2008, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Reusser v. Wachovia Bank, __ F.3d __ (9th Cir. 2008) applied the Rooker-Feldman doctrine to bar re-litigation in federal court of the propriety of a non-judicial foreclosure that had been stayed by the consumer's bankruptcy.  The Rooker-Feldman doctrine holds that federal courts lack jurisdiction to review claims seeking… Read More