United States District Court, D. Colorado
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.
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