Case: 12-14127 Date Filed: 07/01/2013 Page: 1 of 2
[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
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No. 12-14127
Non-Argument Calendar
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D.C. Docket No. 1:12-cv-22628-DLG
ROCHELLE DRIESSEN,
mother of minor children B.O. D/O/B 1993
and B.O. D/O/B/ 1994,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
versus
11TH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT COURT IN AND FOR
DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA JUVENILE DIVISION,
Defendant-Appellee.
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Florida
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(July 1, 2013)
Before TJOFLAT, WILSON and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Case: 12-14127 Date Filed: 07/01/2013 Page: 2 of 2
Rochelle Driessen, proceeding pro se, appeals the district court’s sua sponte
dismissal on frivolity grounds of her 42 U.S.C. § 1983 complaint against the
Juvenile Division for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit for Dade County, Florida
(“Juvenile Division”). Construing Driessen’s complaint liberally, she alleges that
the Juvenile Division violated her due process rights by failing to provide her with
notice of a 2007 hearing terminating her parental rights and placing her children in
a permanent guardianship, and by later failing to terminate jurisdiction over her
children. On appeal, Driessen argues that the district court erred in dismissing her
case for frivolousness on the ground that it was barred by res judicata.
We take judicial notice that the Circuit Court for the Eleventh Judicial
District of Florida is part of Florida’s state court system. Title V of the Florida
Constitution, entitled “Judicial Branch,” provides in § 25.382, “State Courts
System,” that “(1) As used in this section, “state courts system” means all officers,
employees, and divisions of the Supreme Court, district courts of appeal, circuit
courts, and county courts. The “Juvenile Division,” is one of the Circuit Court’s
divisions, like the “Civil Division,” and “Criminal Division,” and is presided over
by one or more Circuit Judges. Because the court is part of the state court system,
it is entitled to sovereign immunity.
AFFIRMED.
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