District Court May Not Dismiss With Prejudice If Applying Rooker-Feldman Doctrine

The Rooker-Feldman doctrine holds that a federal district court lacks jurisdiction over any case where the issues presented are inextricably intertwined with questions that a state court already has adjudicated, such that it might have to revisit the state court’s decisions. In Mills v. Harmon Law Offices, P.C., 344 F.3d 42 (1st Cir. Sept. 12, 2003), the district court found that Rooker-Feldman applied to a removed case, but also found pleading deficiencies and dismissed the case with prejudice. By dismissing under Rooker-Feldman, the court necessarily found that no federal jurisdiction existed, and therefore it was error to dismiss with prejudice — a form of dismissal on the merits that would have precluded refilling in state court — rather than to remand to state court under 28 U.S.C. § 1447(c).