Case: 13-15306 Date Filed: 06/24/2014 Page: 1 of 4
[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
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No. 13-15306
Non-Argument Calendar
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D.C. Docket No. 1:13-cv-00116-SCJ
JACK LINGE,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
versus
STATE OF GEORGIA INC., et al.,
Defendant-Appellee.
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Northern District of Georgia
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(June 24, 2014)
Before TJOFLAT, JORDAN and BLACK, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
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Jack Linge appeals from the district court’s sua sponte dismissal of his pro
se action against the “STATE OF GEORGIA INC., et al,” after the court found
that Linge’s complaint was frivolous under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B) because,
under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine,1 it lacked subject matter jurisdiction to
consider the claims. Linge was convicted and sentenced in Georgia state court in
2011 for abandonment, based on his failure to pay child support. In his complaint,
which was filed in January 2013, Linge referred to himself as “Jack N.: Linge” and
argued that he was a sovereign citizen and the name “JACK LINGE” was a
“certified title” in which he had proprietary ownership. As a result, he argued that
he was not subject to the jurisdiction of Georgia state courts or Georgia law, and he
asked the district court to nullify the Georgia state court criminal proceedings,
conviction, and sentence, and to prevent Georgia from collecting child support
from him in the future. The district court dismissed his complaint, construing it to
name the State of Georgia as the sole defendant and determining that the
Rooker-Feldman doctrine barred the claim.
On appeal, he reiterates the arguments brought in his complaint. 2 He claims
that he is a sovereign citizen and not a citizen of Georgia nor subject to any
1
The Rooker-Feldman doctrine is derived from Rooker v. Fid. Trust Co., 263 U.S. 413,
415-16 (1923), and D.C. Court of Appeals v. Feldman, 460 U.S. 462, 476-82 (1983).
2
“Pro se pleadings are held to a less stringent standard than pleadings drafted by
attorneys and will, therefore, be liberally construed.” Boxer X v. Harris, 437 F.3d 1107, 1110
(11th Cir. 2006) (quotations omitted).
2
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government, and makes various other claims challenging the enforceability of his
Georgia state conviction. He states that the Rooker-Feldman doctrine applies only
to “unrebutted corporate ‘persons’” not protected by the Bill of Rights.
“The Rooker-Feldman doctrine is jurisdictional.” Brown v. R.J. Reynolds
Tobacco Co., 611 F.3d 1324, 1330 (11th Cir. 2010). When the doctrine applies, it
“bars federal district courts from reviewing state court decisions.” Nicholson v.
Shafe, 558 F.3d 1266, 1270 (11th Cir. 2009). The Supreme Court has held that the
Rooker-Feldman doctrine is very narrow and applies only in “limited
circumstances.” Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Saudi Basic Indus. Corp., 544 U.S. 280,
291 (2005). It applies only to bar “cases brought by state-court losers complaining
of injuries caused by state-court judgments rendered before the district court
proceedings commenced and inviting district court review and rejection of those
judgments.” Id. at 284.
The Rooker-Feldman doctrine also applies to federal claims that are
“inextricably intertwined” with a state-court judgment, unless the litigant “did not
have a reasonable opportunity to raise [the] federal claim in state proceedings.”
Casale v. Tillman, 558 F.3d 1258, 1260 (11th Cir. 2009). “A claim is inextricably
intertwined if it would ‘effectively nullify’ the state-court judgment or it ‘succeeds
only to the extent that the state court wrongly decided the issues.’” Id. (citations
omitted).
3
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The district court did not err in determining that it lacked subject matter
jurisdiction over Linge’s claim or in dismissing the claim sua sponte as frivolous
pursuant to § 1915(e)(2)(B).3 The Rooker-Feldman doctrine barred Linge’s claim,
as he lost a Georgia state-court case, claimed injuries in this action based on the
state-court judgment, initiated this action after the state-court judgment was final,
and asked the district court to nullify the state-court judgment. Further, to the
extent that he more broadly argues that he is a sovereign citizen and is not subject
to the jurisdiction of Georgia state courts or Georgia laws, both we and the district
court lack jurisdiction to consider his claim because it is “wholly insubstantial and
frivolous.” See Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Ala. v. Sanders, 138 F.3d 1347, 1352
(11th Cir. 1998) (stating a federal court may dismiss a federal claim for lack of
subject matter jurisdiction if the claim is “wholly insubstantial and frivolous”).4
AFFIRMED.
3
“We review de novo a district court’s conclusion that it lacks subject matter
jurisdiction.” Casale v. Tillman, 558 F.3d at 1260. A court must dismiss an action if it
“determines at any time that it lacks subject-matter jurisdiction.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(h)(3).
4
Linge’s motion for initial hearing en banc is denied.
4