Another Federal Court Dismisses A Borrower's Case Following A State Court Foreclosure
April 07, 2015
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, in Eslick v. Wells Fargo, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 174476 (.pdf), dismissed a borrower's federal lawsuit, which followed an adverse judgment in state court. At issue once again was the Rooker-Feldman doctrine about which I discussed on 12/19/13, 4/25/14, 6/20/14, 7/18/14 and 11/30/14.
In Eslick, as with virtually all the other opinions, the Court pointed out that:
the claims alleged by Plaintiff [borrower] all arise out of the earlier state court foreclosure action.... Under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine, federal district courts do not have subject matter jurisdiction over claims seeking review of state court judgments.
Since the Plaintiff did not assert any independent basis for federal jurisdiction, the claims were barred. In short, you don't get a federal court do-over after you lose in state court.