JEAN-PHILIPPE v. THOMAS

Filing 3

OPINION FILED. Signed by Judge Renee Marie Bumb on 5/3/17. (js)

NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY

ALAN JEAN-PHILIPPE,
Plaintiff,
v.
DENISE THOMAS,
Defendant.

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:Civil Action No. 17-2975 (RMB/JS)
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OPINION
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Plaintiff Alan Jean-Philippe (“Plaintiff”) removed this
action from the Superior Court of New Jersey in Burlington
County.

That state action, brought by Plaintiff, sought from

Defendant Denise Thomas an order: 1) waving enforcement of child
support; 2) forgiving child support debt; and 3) vacating the
child support warrant.

Docket No. 1, page 2.

This matter shall be dismissed for two reasons.
plaintiff may not “remove” his own case.

First, a

28 U.S.C. § 1441

(“Except as otherwise expressly provided by Act of Congress, any
civil action brought in a State court of which the district
courts of the United States have original jurisdiction, may be
removed by the defendant or the defendants, to the district
court of the United States for the district and division

embracing the place where such action is pending.” (emphasis
added)).

Second, this Court does not have jurisdiction when a

litigant seeks to appeal a state-court order in this Court.
Lance v. Dennis, 546 U.S. 459, 463 (2006) (“[U]nder what has
come to be known as the Rooker-Feldman doctrine, lower federal
courts are precluded from exercising appellate jurisdiction over
final state-court judgments.”).
Accordingly, the Court will enter an Order dismissing this
matter.

DATED: May 3, 2017

s/Renée Marie Bumb
RENÉE MARIE BUMB
United States District Judge

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