UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 06-6560
DERWIN A. OSBOURNE,
Plaintiff - Appellant,
versus
GENE JOHNSON, sued in his individual and
official capacities; TRACEY S. RAY, sued in
his individual and official capacities,
Defendants - Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western
District of Virginia, at Roanoke. Jackson L. Kiser, Senior
District Judge. (7:05-cv-00756-jlk)
Submitted: October 6, 2006 Decided: November 16, 2006
Before NIEMEYER, KING, and MOTZ, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Derwin A. Osbourne, Appellant Pro Se.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
See Local Rule 36(c).
PER CURIAM:
Derwin A. Osbourne filed a Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b) motion,
purporting to challenge a state court judgment. The district court
construed the filing as a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2000) action and
dismissed it for failure to state a claim under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A
(2000). Osbourne then filed a motion for reconsideration, claiming
that his filing was a mistaken attempt to appeal a state court
decision. The court denied the motion. Osbourne timely appealed
the denial of both orders.
Because Osbourne’s motion was unambiguously titled and
because he subsequently made his intent explicitly clear, we find
that the district court erred in construing his filing as a § 1983
complaint. Accordingly, we modify the district court’s dismissal
to show that the case was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction* and
affirm the dismissal as modified. We dispense with oral argument
because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in
the materials before the court and argument would not aid the
decisional process.
AFFIRMED
*
See District of Columbia Court of Appeals v. Feldman, 460
U.S. 462, 482 (1983) (explaining that a federal district court has
no authority to review state court judgments); Rooker v. Fidelity
Trust Co., 263 U.S. 413, 415-16 (1923) (holding that district
courts do not have appellate jurisdiction over state courts).
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