UNITED STATES v. SALCEDO
United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit
360 F.3d 810
We find Salcedo did not reasonably construe the government‘s response regarding “any statements” as a guarantee the government would not use the oil change statement at trial. As Salcedo concedes, the government disclosed the existence of the statement. There is no indication the government attempted to unfairly surprise Salcedo, nor is there any indication Salcedo was unfairly surprised.
Even assuming, arguendo, Salcedo was reasonable in interpreting the government‘s comments during the scheduling conference to mean it would not use the oil change statement at trial, to prevail on appeal Salcedo would still have to establish he suffered prejudicial error through the admission of this statement. See Spillers v. Housewright, 692 F.2d 524, 526 (8th Cir.1982). We find Salcedo cannot establish such prejudice.
Although the admission of the oil change statement demonstrated Salcedo‘s willingness to lie, which was damaging to his case, the evidence against him was very strong. The evidence showed Salcedo and his four co-defendants were part of a larger conspiracy to transport eleven kilos of cocaine. Salcedo‘s conviction rested upon not only the incriminating testimony of one of his co-defendants, but also on the direct observations of the DEA agents who observed Salcedo working on the vehicle, his possession of nuts and rivets from the trunk, forensic testimony which showed his fingerprints upon on one of the cocaine bundles, and upon strong circumstantial evidence. Further, neither exculpatory claim—that of changing the oil or changing the taillight—is persuasive. There were no tools, equipment, or parts present for changing either.
For these reasons, we affirm the judgment and conviction.
Ronald Richard JOHNSON; Dee Lundberg Johnson, Plaintiffs/Appellants, v. CITY OF SHOREWOOD, MINNESOTA; City of Minnetonka, Minnesota, and its Mayor in her official capacity; Riley-Purgatory-Bluff Creek Watershed District, and the Chair of its Board of Managers in his official capacity; Trivesco, a partnership, and its partners; Robert H. Mason, Inc., a corporation; Highland Properties, Inc., a corporation; Steiner & Koppelman, Inc., a corporation; Highland Villa Builders, Inc., a corporation; United States of America; Corps of Engineers, being sued as the Corps of Engineers of the United States; Louis Caldera, The Honorable, Secretary of the United States Army in his/her official capacity or his successor; Joseph N. Ballard, Lt. General, the Commander-in-Chief of the Corps of Engineers of the United States in his/her official capacity, Defendants/Appellees. Ronald Richard Johnson; Dee Lundberg Johnson, Plaintiffs/Appellees, v. City of Shorewood, Minnesota; Defendant/Appellant, City of Minnetonka, Minnesota, and its Mayor in her official capacity; Riley-Purgatory-Bluff Creek Watershed District, and the Chair of its Board of
Nos. 02-3562, 02-4081, 03-2023
United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.
Submitted: Dec. 18, 2003. Filed: March 5, 2004.
George C. Hoff, argued, Eden Prairie, Minnesota, (Kimberly B. Kozar, on the brief), for appellee/cross-appellant City of Shorewood.
Joseph N. Ballard, Louis Caldera, argued, Corps of Engineers, United States, Patricia R. Cangemi, Assistant U.S. Attorney, Minneapolis, Minnesota (Thomas B. Heffelfinger, on the brief).
Christopher Scott Hayhoe, argued, Minneapolis, Minnesota, for appellees Highland Villa and Highlan Properties.
Before LOKEN, Chief Judge, WOLLMAN, and HANSEN, Circuit Judges.
WOLLMAN, Circuit Judge.
This appeal represents the continuation of Ronald and Dee Johnson‘s multi-year litigation over a 20-acre parcel of land they own in Hennepin County, Minnesota. After pursuing several state court actions during the 1990s, the Johnsons brought this suit in federal court against the cities of Shorewood and Minnetonka, Minnesota, the Riley-Purgatory-Bluff Creek Watershed District (Watershed District), various
I.
The subject property, which the Johnsons purchased in 1981, is located within the city of Shorewood. It consists of three wooded knolls separated by a flat, centrally located field. The field is diagonally bisected by a drainage ditch running from the northeast corner to the southwest corner. Before 1984, water ran through the ditch and headed south from the Johnson property, ultimately emptying into Purgatory Creek. In 1980, prior to the Johnsons’ purchase, the field was designated as a wetland on the National Wetland Inventory Map issued by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.5
After the Johnsons purchased the property, Trivesco began developing land to the south and west. Dubbed “Waterford,” the resulting subdivision required the installation of roads and utilities. In 1984, Shorewood obtained the consent of the United States Army Corps of Engineers to install the roads and utilities under an existing
Shorewood constructed a road berm, culvert, and pond-control structure along the southern boundary of the Johnson property. The pond-control structure raised the bottom of the drainage ditch above its original elevation and created a pond near the southern boundary of the Johnson property. Based on the design of the pond-control structure, the Watershed District designated a 100-year storm event flood plain at an elevation of 917.1 feet above sea level and prohibited construction at elevations lower than 919.1 feet. Johnson v. City of Shorewood, No. 91-18099, at
The Johnsons commenced state court litigation against Shorewood in 1991, alleging inverse condemnation under both the federal and Minnesota constitutions. The state court determined that the flood plain restrictions did not constitute a regulatory taking, but concluded that the pond and associated control structure had physically taken the Johnsons’ property up to 914 feet above sea level because the pond would rise to that elevation during “major storm events.” Id. at 5. Accordingly, the state court issued a writ of mandamus compelling Shorewood to commence condemnation proceedings for the purpose of acquiring a drainage easement on the Johnsons’ property up to 914 feet above sea level. Id. The Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed this judgment. Johnson v. City of Shorewood, No. CX-93-2452 (Minn.Ct.App. May 11, 1994), review denied, (Minn. July 15, 1994).
Shorewood instituted condemnation proceedings and awarded the Johnsons $2,000 for the easement and $3,000 for “cost to cure” damages. Not satisfied with the award, the Johnsons brought a second state court action, this one challenging the scope of the taking and the amount of the award. The state court held that the Johnsons were collaterally estopped from re-litigating the scope of the taking6 and submitted the valuation issue to a jury. The jury awarded the Johnsons $2,000 for the taking and $63,000 for clean-up costs. The state court vacated the $2,000 takings award, however, in light of the jury‘s finding that the taking had not diminished the market value of the Johnsons’ land. Although both parties appealed, the Johnsons did not contest the amount of the award. The Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment, holding that the $63,000 award was appropriate because the value of the Johnsons’ property would have been diminished absent clean-up of debris caused by the flooding. City of Shorewood v. Johnson, No. C5-97-1525, 1998 WL 188561, at *1 (Minn.Ct.App. April 21, 1998).
In 1996, the Johnsons brought suit against the city of Minnetonka, alleging that development of the Ashcroft subdivision in Minnetonka had been diverting storm water on to the Johnsons‘s property since as early as 1992. The state court dismissed the action without prejudice for failure to join necessary parties. The Johnsons did not appeal from the dismissal, electing instead to file the federal district court action giving rise to the present appeal.
The Johnsons‘s second amended complaint spans fifty-five pages and includes twenty-three counts. It alleges numerous constitutional violations stemming from regulatory and physical takings of the Johnson property from at least 1984 to the present,7 and alleges a conspiracy to ac-
II.
A. Claims Against The United States
The district court concluded that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the Johnsons‘s takings claims against the United States. Having reviewed the dismissal de novo, Lemonds v. St. Louis County, 222 F.3d 488, 492 (8th Cir.2000), we agree. The United States Court of Federal Claims has exclusive subject matter jurisdiction over takings claims against the United States that exceed $10,000 in amount. See
Nevertheless, the Johnsons suggest that dismissal of their takings claims violates their right to a jury trial under the
The district court also granted summary judgment on the Johnsons’ FOIA claim on the ground that it was barred by the applicable statute of limitations. The Johnsons assert on appeal that the United States is estopped from asserting the statute of limitations defense because it “fraudulently” stated that it had destroyed certain documents when in fact it had not. This contention was not raised in the district court, however, and so we will not consider it on appeal. Orion Financial Corp. v. American Foods Group, Inc., 281 F.3d 733, 740 (8th Cir.2002).
In any event, the claim would be moot because we could not grant the relief the Johnsons seek. Cf. Doe v. Pulaski County Special School Dist., 306 F.3d 616, 621 (8th Cir.2002) (en banc) (“[A]n appeal must be dismissed as moot when our decision will have no ‘effectual relief whatever to a prevailing party.‘” (citation omitted)). The Johnsons do not argue that the United States should release any particular information or documents under FOIA, but instead suggest that the FOIA violation would have led to discovery of evidence that would have allowed them to recover just compensation in the state court proceedings. They claim that they can therefore assert “tort claims” against the United States. FOIA, however, is a comprehensive scheme that provides for injunctive relief only, not tort liability or damages, see
B. Claims Against The Remaining Defendants
In adopting the magistrate judge‘s recommendations, the district court found that the Johnsons had not produced evidence of a conspiracy sufficient to survive summary judgment on their claim under
A successful claim under
At most, the Johnsons’ evidence suggests that the United States, the Watershed District, the municipal defendants, and the private developers worked together on various development projects and communicated with each other, but this alone is insufficient to generate a genuine issue of material fact regarding the existence of a conspiracy. This lack of evidence also dooms for want of state action the Johnsons’ federal claims against the private developers under
The United States Supreme Court has ruled that takings claims are not ripe for adjudication in federal court unless and until they have been exhausted in state administrative and judicial proceedings. See Williamson County Reg‘l Planning Comm. v. Hamilton Bank, 473 U.S. 172, 195 (1985) (Williamson County) (concluding that a property owner “has not suffered a violation of the Just Compensation Clause until the owner has unsuccessfully attempted to obtain just compensation through the procedures provided by the State for obtaining such compensation.“). Moreover, federal courts give full faith and credit to state court judgments, see
Finally, because the United States Supreme Court alone has jurisdiction to review state court decisions, the lower federal courts lack subject matter jurisdiction to consider federal claims that would vitiate an underlying state court judgment. Lemonds, 222 F.3d at 492; see also District of Columbia Court of Appeals v. Feldman, 460 U.S. 462, 483 (1983); Rooker v. Fidelity Trust Co., 263 U.S. 413, 416 (1923). With the limited exception of habeas corpus actions, this principle, known as the Rooker-Feldman doctrine, applies whenever a federal claim would succeed only “to the extent that the state court wrongly decided the issues before it.” Simes v. Huckabee, 354 F.3d 823, 827 (8th Cir.2004) (quoting Pennzoil Co. v. Texaco, Inc., 481 U.S. 1, 25 (1987) (Marshall, J., concurring)). Unlike collateral estoppel, the Rooker-Feldman doctrine does not necessarily depend upon an identity of parties or claims between the state and federal litigation, and because the doctrine is jurisdictional, it may be raised sua sponte. Lemonds, 222 F.3d at 492-93.
Many of the Johnsons’ claims call upon us to consider issues identical to those on which the Johnsons have already obtained a state court decision, especially as against Shorewood. Although the district court mentioned our decision in Lemonds, it disposed of claims actually litigated in the state court cases under principles of collateral estoppel. We believe the problem is more fundamental. To the extent the Johnsons’ alleged con-
The Johnsons argue that they were denied just compensation due to “misrepresentations” perpetrated in the state court proceedings—misrepresentations which they allegedly discovered after the fact. Whatever the validity of these allegations, Rooker-Feldman stands as a bar to federal review because the Johnsons’ requested relief “would effectively reverse the state court decision or void its ruling.” Bechtold v. City of Rosemount, 104 F.3d 1062, 1065 (8th Cir.1997). The Johnsons’ remedy, if any, is to return to state court and utilize its procedures for remedying fraud. See Johnson v. Smithsonian Institution, 189 F.3d 180, 186-87 (2d Cir.1999). If the state courts deny relief, the Johnsons may seek review by the United States Supreme Court.
The Johnsons’ claims that were not adjudicated in state proceedings suffer a similar fate, although for a different reason. Although claims not presented or adjudicated in state proceedings may not be not barred by Rooker-Feldman, Williamson County still applies. Thus, all of the claims which the Johnsons failed to present in the state litigation, as well as all of the claims which arose after the state court fixed the takings issues to be decided, are unripe for adjudication in federal court because the Johnsons have failed to pursue state postdeprivation remedies for those alleged takings. See Kottschade v. City of Rochester, 319 F.3d 1038, 1042 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ---, 124 S.Ct. 178, 157 L.Ed.2d 46 (2003).
C. Dismissal of State Law Claims
Because the court granted dismissal or summary judgment on all of the Johnsons’ federal claims, it declined to exercise jurisdiction over the Johnsons’ supplemental state law claims, dismissing them without prejudice. A federal district court has the discretionary power to decline jurisdiction where it has “dismissed all claims over which it has original jurisdiction.”
D. Shorewood‘s Cross-Appeal
Shorewood‘s cross-appeal contends that many of the Johnsons’ current claims could have been brought during the state court
Conclusion
As modified to reflect our holding that the district court was without jurisdiction to consider certain of the Johnsons’ claims, the judgment is affirmed.
ROGER L. WOLLMAN
UNITED STATES CIRCUIT JUDGE