Webb v. Gregory

          ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER AND PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION AND DISMISSING ACTION

          CHRISTINE M. ARGUELLO UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

         This matter is before the Court on Plaintiff Felicia Webb's Verified Complaint and Request for a Forthwith Order for a Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction Enjoining Defendants from Holding a Sheriff's Sale on December 9, 2019; and Complaint for Declaratory Relief (Doc. # 1). This case arises out of Plaintiff's dissatisfaction with a Colorado state court's judgment in favor of Defendant Robin Gregory (“Mr. Gregory”) which set aside, as a fraudulent conveyance, a purported transfer of real property located at 515 Skyline Drive, Ouray, CO 81427. Because the Rooker-Feldman doctrine prohibits federal district courts from modifying or setting aside state court judgments, Plaintiff's Motion is denied, and her action is dismissed.

         I. BACKGROUND

         This case concerns real property located at 515 Skyline Drive, Ouray, CO 81427 (the “Property”). (Doc. # 1 at 25.) Although Plaintiff's Complaint sets forth vague and conclusory factual allegations, from the pleadings and corresponding exhibits, the Court gleans the following background relating to the Property.

         On October 18, 2005, David Webb allegedly established the Define Living Trust (“Define Trust”). (Doc. # 1 at 22.) The instrument governing the Define Trust provides that David Webb signed as trustee of the Define Trust; and his apparent signature also appears above the “Grantor” line. (Id.) On April 6, 2007, the Spirit Mountain Trust (“Spirit Trust”) purportedly transferred the Property to the Define Trust (“April 2007 Transfer”) through an unrecorded quitclaim deed that was executed between Spirit Trust trustee Nicholas Webb and Define Trust trustee David Webb (“Quitclaim Deed”). (Id. at 28-29.)

         On March 27, 2012, the Define Trust trustee executed the First Amendment to the Define Trust (id. at 30), which designated Plaintiff as the sole beneficiary of the Define Trust, converted the Define Trust from revocable to irrevocable, and added the following condition:

At age 25, beneficiary reserves the right to revoke the Trust without cause, and may withdraw assets from the trust. In all other respects, the Define Living Trust dated October 18, 2005, shall remain in full force and effect.

(Id.) On April 1, 2019, Plaintiff recorded the Quitclaim Deed with the Ouray County Clerk and Recorder. (Id. at 4, ¶17, 28.)

         Prior to Plaintiff's recordation of the Quitclaim Deed, Mr. Gregory was a Third-Party Plaintiff, and David Webb, Nicholas Webb, and Nicholas Webb in his capacity as trustee of Spirit Trust were Third-Party Defendants in a civil case commenced in the Colorado State District Court for Ouray County (“Colorado State Court”). (Id. at 34-37); Gregory v. Webb et. al., No. 2016CV30012 (Colo. Dist. Ct. 2016) (“Colorado State Action”). On August 2, 2019, the Colorado State Court entered judgment^[1] in favor of Mr. Gregory, and against David Webb, Nicholas Webb, and Nicholas Webb in his capacity as Spirit Trust trustee, finding that the April 2007 Transfer of the Property was a fraudulent conveyance. (Doc. # 1 at 34.)

         As permitted under Colorado's fraudulent conveyance statute, Mr. Gregory obtained a writ of attachment on the Property on August 14, 2019, pursuant to which he was authorized to “proceed with the process for a Sheriff's sale and the Ouray County Sheriff [was] ordered to and authorized to take [the Property] and commence a Sheriff's sale” in accordance with the “statutory procedures to conduct a Sheriff sale of the [Property.]” (Id. at 36-37.)

         On October 31, November 7, 14, 21, 28, and December 5, 2019, Ouray County Sheriff Lance P. Fitzgerald published a Sheriff's Notice of Sale regarding sale of the Property in the Ouray County Plaindealer. (Id. at 31.) The Notice of Sale provided that under “the Order and Writ of Attachment entered on August 15, 2019, [he was] ordered to sell” the Property on December 9, 2019, at 10:00 AM, at the Ouray County Sheriff's Office. (Id.) Mr. Gregory's counsel in the Colorado State Action certified that, on October 29, 2019, notice of the Sheriff's sale of the Property was sent to David Webb, Nicholas Webb, Nicholas Webb as trustee for Spirit Trust, and David Webb as trustee for Define Trust. (Id. at 24-27.)

         Plaintiff waited until 8:04 a.m. on December 9, 2019, to file her Verified Complaint and Request for TRO and Preliminary Injunction. (Id. at 1.) Therein, she asserts two claims for relief: (1) a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction that will enjoin the sale of the Property; and (2) declaratory relief for which this Court will declare that Mr. Gregory and Park Estates Homeowner's Association do not have a legal right to a Sheriff's sale of the Property, that Plaintiff and the Define Trust own the Property, and a proclamation of Plaintiff's rights to the Property under the Define Trust. (Id. at 7-9.) Plaintiff argues that the Colorado State Court's numerous errors justify this relief. For the following reasons, the Court denies Plaintiff's Motion and dismisses her action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

         II. LEGAL STANDARD

         A. ...