Coats v. Woods

PREGERSON, Circuit Judge:

Charlotte Coats brought these actions, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, in which she alleged that her husband and others wrongfully deprived her of the custody of her two children. The district court abstained from hearing the cases on the ground that the actions, involving child custody, implicated domestic relations issues, traditionally an area of state concern. Coats appeals from the district court’s dismissal of the actions. We affirm.

Following divorce from her husband, William Armstrong, Coats obtained sole custody of their two sons from 1971 until 1983. In 1983,…