Rooker-Feldman Doctrine
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The Rooker-Feldman Doctrine states that U.S. Federal Courts are jurisdictionally barred from deciding cases decided exclusively on state grounds. The name is based on two U.S. Supreme Court cases: Rooker v. Fidelity Trust Co. [1] and District of Columbia Court of Appeals v. Feldman [2]. In both of these cases the losing part in the state court filed suit in U.S. District court after the state proceedings ended, complaining of an injury caused by the state-court judgment.
Under this line of cases, Federal Courts do not have subject matter jurisdiction over such claims because 28 U.S.C. Section 1257, "vests authority to review a state court's judgment solely in this Court."[3]
See Jurisdiction
