Butcher v. Wendt, 975 F.3d 236

Butcher was CEO of BondFactor; Wendt and Fitzgerald were senior employees with compensation agreements that vested upon capital infusions; contracts were amended in 2013 to delay payment of vested compensation.
Wendt and Fitzgerald were fired and arbitrated; arbitrator denied Wendt’s claims and awarded Fitzgerald damages and attorneys’ fees; a later Article 75 proceeding led Justice Farneti to vacate the award, but the Appellate Division reversed as untimely.
While the state appeal was pending, Butcher sued in federal court alleging a RICO and § 1983 conspiracy by Wendt, Fitzgerald, their lawyer Cassell, and Justice Farneti (claims included fabricated evidence, bribery, and coordinated litigation misconduct).
The district court dismissed parts of the complaint under the Rooker–Feldman doctrine and dismissed remaining claims under Rule 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim.
The Second Circuit affirmed dismissal on the merits: it held Justice Farneti immune from damages and found RICO and § 1983 allegations conclusory, speculative, and insufficient (litigation misconduct alone cannot be a RICO predicate; alleged emails lacked proximate causation).
Judge Menashi concurred in the judgment but would have resolved the Rooker–Feldman issue, concluding jurisdiction existed because the state appeal was pending; the majority declined to decide Rooker–Feldman and assumed statutory jurisdiction to decide the merits.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Rooker–Feldman bars federal suit where state appeal was pending	Rooker–Feldman does not apply because the state-court appeal was pending when Butcher filed in federal court	District court invoked Rooker–Feldman to dismiss some claims for lack of jurisdiction	Majority assumed jurisdiction and affirmed dismissal on merits without deciding Rooker–Feldman; concurrence would have held Rooker–Feldman inapplicable
Liability of Judge Farneti	Farneti participated in conspiracy and is liable for damages	Judge is entitled to absolute judicial immunity for judicial acts	Dismissed: absolute judicial immunity bars Butcher’s damages claims against Farneti
Substantive RICO (§1962(c)) and RICO conspiracy (§1962(d))	False filings, testimony, emails, and alleged bribery constitute predicate acts and an agreement to violate RICO	Allegations are conclusory/speculative; litigation activity alone is not a RICO predicate; no proximate cause from emails	Dismissed: pleadings fail to allege predicate acts, pattern, agreement, or proximate causation to support RICO claims
§1983 conspiracy (private actors + state actor)	Private defendants conspired with Judge Farneti to deprive Butcher of due process	Must plead facts showing private actors acted in concert with state actor to commit constitutional violation	Dismissed: conspiracy allegations too conclusory; no adequate factual showing of concerted action with state actor

Rooker v. Fidelity Trust Co., 263 U.S. 413 (1923) (origin of Rooker–Feldman jurisdictional principle)
D.C. Court of Appeals v. Feldman, 460 U.S. 462 (1983) (further limits district-court review of state-court judgments)
Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Saudi Basic Indus. Corp., 544 U.S. 280 (2005) (Rooker–Feldman bars federal suits that are de facto appeals of state-court judgments)
Steel Co. v. Citizens for a Better Environment, 523 U.S. 83 (1998) (Article III jurisdiction must ordinarily be addressed before the merits)
Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009) (plausibility pleading standard)
Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007) (Complaint must state a plausible claim above speculative level)
Kim v. Kimm, 884 F.3d 98 (2d Cir. 2018) (litigation-related misconduct alone does not constitute a RICO predicate)
Bliven v. Hunt, 579 F.3d 204 (2d Cir. 2009) (judicial absolute immunity for judicial acts)
Williams v. Affinion Group, LLC, 889 F.3d 116 (2d Cir. 2018) (elements required for substantive RICO claim)
Empire Merchants, LLC v. Reliable Churchill LLLP, 902 F.3d 132 (2d Cir. 2018) (RICO proximate-causation requirement)
Ciambriello v. County of Nassau, 292 F.3d 307 (2d Cir. 2002) (§ 1983 conspiracy claims against private entities require allegations of concerted action with state actors)