[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FILED
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUITU.S. COURT OF APPEALS
________________________ ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
FEB 09, 2010
No. 09-12167 JOHN LEY
Non-Argument Calendar ACTING CLERK
________________________
D. C. Docket No. 08-00181-MI-JEC-1
J.P. MORGAN CHASE BANK,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
THOMAS G. DEAN,
Defendant-Appellant.
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Northern District of Georgia
_________________________
(February 9, 2010)
Before TJOFLAT, WILSON and PRYOR, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Thomas G. Dean appeals pro se the denial of his motion for leave to remove
to federal court an action to dispossess filed by J.P. Morgan Chase Bank. We
affirm.
I. BACKGROUND
Dean is a vexatious litigant who has abused the legal system for more than
20 years. See Dean v. ARA Envtl. Serv., Inc., 124 F.R.D. 224, 227 (N.D. Ga.
1988) (listing Dean’s litigation between 1982 and 1988). By 2000, Dean had filed
over one hundred lawsuits against various individuals, companies, judges, and
government entities. In one of those lawsuits, Dean complained that three
mortgage companies had discriminated against Dean on the basis of his race by
denying him financing after he filed a petition for bankruptcy. After it dismissed
Dean’s complaint, the district court enjoined Dean from “filing or attempting to
initiate any new lawsuit in any federal court” without permission of the court.
Dean appealed the dismissal of his complaint, but he did not challenge the
injunction. See Dean v. Peach State Mortgage Co., 273 F.3d 1111 (11th Cir.
2001).
On February 19, 2008, less than one month after J.P. Morgan filed an action
to dispossess in a Georgia court, Dean moved for leave to file a notice to remove
the action to federal court. Dean stated, among other things, that his removal was
based on diversity of citizenship, id. § 1441, and the violation of his civil rights, id.
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§ 1443. The clerk docketed Dean’s motion as a miscellaneous matter instead of as
a civil action. See Judicial Guide to Policies and Procedures § 10.04 (a)(2)(i)
(2009).
A magistrate judge recommended that the district court deny Dean’s motion
for leave to remove. The magistrate judge ruled that Dean failed to establish that
the district court could exercise original jurisdiction over the action to evict. The
district court adopted the recommendation of the magistrate judge and denied
Dean’s motion. Dean did not appeal the decision.
On May 2, 2008, Dean filed a second motion for leave to file a notice to
remove the action to dispossess filed by J.P. Morgan. Dean argued that he was
entitled to remove the action on three grounds: (1) the action to dispossess had
been consolidated with another action that J.P. Morgan had removed to federal
court; (2) there was diversity of citizenship between the parties because J.P.
Morgan had not incorporated in and had not maintained a registered office in
Georgia and because Dean’s property was worth more than $75,000, id. § 1332(a);
and (3) Dean had been discriminated against by the state court in violation of his
civil rights, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1982, 1985, and his right to due process under the
Fourth, Seventh, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth Amendments, id. §§ 1334(c)(1), 1443.
J.P. Morgan moved to remand the case and argued that the district court lacked
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jurisdiction to consider Dean’s second motion for leave to file a notice to remove
and the motion was untimely.
On June 27, 2008, a Georgia court issued a writ of possession to J.P.
Morgan. On July 7, 2008, Dean filed in the district court a motion to vacate the
writ of possession. Dean argued that the state court lacked jurisdiction to issue the
writ of possession.
On March 25, 2009, the district court denied Dean’s second motion for leave
to file a notice of removal and his motion to vacate the writ of possession. The
district court ruled that Dean’s second motion for leave was untimely. The court
also concluded that treating Dean’s motion for leave as a motion to remove would
reward Dean “in his efforts to get around the injunction” and thwart the purpose of
the injunction to prevent Dean from “continu[ing] to harass courts and opposing
parties and manipulate the legal system with impunity.”
II. STANDARD OF REVIEW
We review de novo issues of subject-matter jurisdiction. Bailey v. Janssen
Pharmaceutica, Inc., 536 F.3d 1202, 1204 (11th Cir. 2008).
III. DISCUSSION
Dean challenges the denial of his second motion for leave to file a notice to
remove and his motion to vacate the writ of possession. Dean argues that the
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injunction entered by the district court is invalid. Dean also argues that he could
remove the action filed by J.P. Morgan because the laws of Georgia violated his
rights under the Fourth, Seventh, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth Amendments. These
arguments fail.
Dean argues that the injunction operates in a racially discriminatory manner
and is not permitted by the Rules of Civil Procedure, but we lack jurisdiction to
consider these arguments. The district court issued the injunction in December
2000, and Dean had 30 days in which to appeal that order. Fed. R. App. P.
4(a)(1)(A). Dean’s attack of the injunction is untimely.
Dean argues that the district court was required to grant him leave to file a
notice to remove, but we disagree. As the district court concluded, Dean’s second
attempt to remove the action was untimely. 28 U.S.C. § 1446(b).
The decision to deny Dean leave to file a notice to remove is AFFIRMED.
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