8.2.3 Rooker-Feldman Doctrine

The Rooker-Feldman doctrine deprives a federal court of jurisdiction to review state court judgments in cases brought by state-court losers complaining of injuries caused by a state court judgment rendered before the federal suit began.1  Rooker-Feldman does not apply to Fair Housing Act claims based on conduct that predates the state court judgment.2  However, some courts, including the Fifth Circuit, may apply Rooker-Feldman more broadly to bar actions that require reviewing the validity of a state court eviction judgment.3

• 1The doctrine is enunciated in two U.S. Supreme Court cases. See Rooker v. Fidelity Trust Co., 263 U.S. 413 (1923); District of Columbia Court of Appeals v. Feldman, 460 U.S. 462 (1983).
• 2Poindexter v. Allegheny Cnty. Hous. Auth., 329 F. App’x 347 (3d Cir. 2009); Long v. Shore Bank Dev. Corp., 182 F.3d 548 (7th Cir. 1999).
• 3See, e.g., Ill. Cent. R.R. Co. v. Guy, 682 F.3d 381, 390-91 (5th Cir. 2012); Babalola v. B.Y. Equities, Inc., 63 F. App’x 534 (2d Cir. 2003); Chambers v. Habitat Co., 215 F.3d 1329 (7th Cir. 2000).