Filed: Oct. 24, 2019
Latest Update: Mar. 03, 2020
Summary: FILED United States Court of Appeals UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Tenth Circuit FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT October 24, 2019 _ Elisabeth A. Shumaker Clerk of Court COMCAST OF COLORADO I, LLC, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. No. 19-1013 (D.C. No. 1:18-CV-03158-LTB) ANDREW J. O’CONNOR; MARY E. (D. Colo.) HENRY, Defendants - Appellants. _ ORDER AND JUDGMENT* _ Before HARTZ, HOLMES, and MORITZ, Circuit Judges. _ Defendants-Appellants Andrew J. O’Connor and Mary E. Henry appeal the district court’s order remand
Summary: FILED United States Court of Appeals UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Tenth Circuit FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT October 24, 2019 _ Elisabeth A. Shumaker Clerk of Court COMCAST OF COLORADO I, LLC, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. No. 19-1013 (D.C. No. 1:18-CV-03158-LTB) ANDREW J. O’CONNOR; MARY E. (D. Colo.) HENRY, Defendants - Appellants. _ ORDER AND JUDGMENT* _ Before HARTZ, HOLMES, and MORITZ, Circuit Judges. _ Defendants-Appellants Andrew J. O’Connor and Mary E. Henry appeal the district court’s order remandi..
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FILED
United States Court of Appeals
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Tenth Circuit
FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT October 24, 2019
_________________________________
Elisabeth A. Shumaker
Clerk of Court
COMCAST OF COLORADO I, LLC,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v. No. 19-1013
(D.C. No. 1:18-CV-03158-LTB)
ANDREW J. O’CONNOR; MARY E. (D. Colo.)
HENRY,
Defendants - Appellants.
_________________________________
ORDER AND JUDGMENT*
_________________________________
Before HARTZ, HOLMES, and MORITZ, Circuit Judges.
_________________________________
Defendants-Appellants Andrew J. O’Connor and Mary E. Henry appeal the
district court’s order remanding this action to Colorado state court. Exercising
jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm.
Defendants have refused to allow Plaintiff-Appellee Comcast of Colorado I,
LLC (Comcast) access to the public utility easement on their property. As a result,
Comcast filed this action against Defendants in Colorado state court, seeking
*
After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined
unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist in the determination of
this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is therefore
ordered submitted without oral argument. This order and judgment is not binding
precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral
estoppel. It may be cited, however, for its persuasive value consistent with
Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th Cir. R. 32.1.
injunctive and declaratory relief based on Defendants’ alleged violation of the Cable
Communications Policy Act of 1984, 47 U.S.C. § 521-55.
Comcast filed a motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) and a
preliminary injunction prohibiting Defendants from denying Comcast access to the
easement. The state court granted Comcast’s motion for a TRO and set a date for a
hearing on Comcast’s motion for preliminary injunction. Defendants, acting pro se,
responded by filing (1) a motion to dismiss Comcast’s action for failure to state a
claim, (2) their own motion for TRO and a preliminary injunction, and (3) an answer
that included a counterclaim against Comcast. The state court denied Defendants’
motions. Defendants then filed a notice removing this action to the U.S. District
Court for the District of Colorado hours before the preliminary injunction hearing.
Comcast filed an Emergency Motion to Remand to State Court, urging the
district court to remand this action because Defendants had waived their right to
remove the action to federal court by actively participating in litigation of the case in
the state court. Based on our decision in City of Albuquerque v. Soto Enterprises,
Inc.,
864 F.3d 1089 (10th Cir. 2017), the district court agreed Defendants had waived
removal and ordered this action remanded to the state court. R. at 347-49.
Defendants timely appealed the district court’s remand order. But in their
opening brief, they do not mention the order or make any arguments challenging it.
“[W]e routinely have declined to consider arguments that are not raised, or are
inadequately presented, in an appellant’s opening brief. . . . Stated differently, the
omission of an issue in an opening brief generally forfeits appellate consideration of
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that issue.” Bronson v. Swensen,
500 F.3d 1099, 1104 (10th Cir. 2007); see Garrett v.
Selby Connor Maddux & Janer,
425 F.3d 836, 840 (10th Cir. 2005) (holding pro se
plaintiff’s inadequate “briefs disentitle him to review by this court”). Accordingly, we
decline to review the district court’s remand order, which is the only issue Defendants
could properly raise in this court. The district court’s remand order is therefore
AFFIRMED.
Because Defendants have not advanced “a reasoned, nonfrivolous argument” that
the district court erred, DeBardeleben v. Quinlan,
937 F.2d 502, 505 (10th Cir. 1991), we
also DENY their motion to proceed without prepayment of costs and fees. Defendants
must immediately pay the filing fee to the Clerk of the U.S. District Court for the District
of Colorado.
Entered for the Court
Nancy L. Moritz
Circuit Judge
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