F I L E D
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
NOV 29 2001
TENTH CIRCUIT
PATRICK FISHER
Clerk
ALI MEHDIPOUR,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
JAMES S. MATTHEWS, JR., Private
Attorney; NANCY COATS, Judge, No. 01-6135
individually and in her official (D.C. No. 01-CV-214)
capacity as Oklahoma County District (W.D. Okla.)
Court Judge; NILES JACKSON,
Judge, individually and in his official
capacity as Oklahoma County District
Court Judge,
Defendant-Appellees.
ORDER AND JUDGMENT *
Before EBEL, KELLY and LUCERO, Circuit Judges.
*
After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined
unanimously to grant the parties’ request for a decision on the briefs without oral
argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(f) and 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is
therefore ordered submitted without oral argument. This Order and Judgment is
not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata,
and collateral estoppel. The court generally disfavors the citation of orders and
judgments; nevertheless, an order and judgment may be cited under the terms and
conditions of 10th Cir. R. 36.3.
Oklahoma state prisoner Ali Mehdipour brought the present pro se action
under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Mehdipour was the plaintiff in a prior real estate
dispute, and he hired attorney James Matthews to represent him. Mehdipour later
fired Matthews, retained new counsel, and prevailed in the real estate dispute
before the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Meanwhile, Matthews obtained a judgment
from Oklahoma County District Court Judge Nancy Coats for attorney’s fees and
costs, and, after judgment had been entered in Mehdipour’s favor by the supreme
court in the real estate dispute, Matthews successfully petitioned the county
district court to add Matthews to the caption of Mehdipour’s real estate action in
order to assert his claim for attorney’s fees against the judgment. Mehdipour
responded by filing one suit before Oklahoma County District Court Judge Niles
Jackson alleging that Matthews and Judge Coats had violated his rights, and a
second suit before Judge Jackson alleging that Matthews had defrauded him.
Each of these suits was dismissed, and Mehdipour brought the present § 1983
action against Matthews, Coats, and Jackson, alleging a conspiracy to deprive him
of his property.
The court below dismissed Mehdipour’s claims. It held that defendants
Coats and Jackson were entitled to absolute judicial immunity because they had
not acted “without any colorable claim of jurisdiction.” Snell v. Tunnell, 920
F.2d 673, 686 (10th Cir. 1990). It further held that defendant Matthews was not
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subject to suit under § 1983 because Mehdipour had failed adequately to allege a
conspiracy with state actors. On appeal, Mehdipour conclusorily asserts that the
state judges acted in the clear absence of all jurisdiction and contends that “it is
difficult to plead with specific[ity] a conspiracy” in this case. 1
We AFFIRM for substantially the reasons given by the district court.
ENTERED FOR THE COURT
David M. Ebel
Circuit Judge
1
Mehdipour argues on appeal that absolute judicial immunity does not
apply to his claims for injunctive relief rather than damages. The only injunctive
relief sought by Mehdipour in his complaint was a declaratory judgment that the
defendants had violated his rights. However, “[t]he Eleventh Amendment does
not permit judgments against state officers declaring that they violated federal law
in the past.” Johns v. Stewart, 57 F.3d 1544, 1553 (10th Cir. 1995).
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