Source: https://www.povertylaw.org/clearinghouse/fpmd/chapter2/section8
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 03:49:30+00:00

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The Supreme Court limited the ability of federal courts to enjoin or otherwise to interfere with state judicial proceedings in Younger v. Harris and subsequent decisions.4 In Younger, plaintiffs sought a federal injunction against a state criminal prosecution on the ground that the state statute alleged to have been violated was unconstitutionally vague. The Court held that such an injunction could be granted only in extraordinary circumstances to prevent immediate irreparable injury. This standard was not met when the federal plaintiff has a defense in the state proceeding. Such a defense was regarded as an adequate remedy at law even when the pendency of the criminal prosecution is alleged to chill First Amendment rights incidentally. The Court held that the result was also commanded by principles of federalism, comity, and equality.
In addition to expanding Younger from criminal to civil proceedings in which the state had an important interest, the Court has applied this abstention doctrine to pending state administrative proceedings. In Middlesex County Ethics Committee v. Garden State Bar Association, the Court relied on the Younger doctrine to deny a requested federal injunction against state bar disciplinary proceedings.13 The Court justified that decision, in part, on the close relationship between lawyer disciplinary proceedings and the supervisory role played by the state courts. In addition, in Ohio Civil Rights Commission v. Dayton Christian Schools, Incorporated, a sectarian school, the respondent in a state administrative proceeding involving alleged gender-based employment discrimination, unsuccessfully sought a federal injunction against the pending proceeding on First Amendment grounds.14 In applying Younger, the Court emphasized the important state interest in rooting out employment discrimination, and the school’s opportunity to raise the First Amendment claim in the administrative proceeding, to justify its refusal to permit the district court to entertain suits challenging the validity of administrative enforcement proceedings on these grounds.
A number of federal courts have adopted, in slightly varying formulations, a three-part threshold test derived from Middlesex County Ethics Committee for assessing the propriety of invoking Younger.24 Under this analysis, absent extraordinary circumstances inherent in the exceptions stated in Younger, abstention is generally proper when three standards are met: (1) there are ongoing state adjudicative proceedings, which (2) implicate important state interests, and which (3) provide an adequate opportunity to raise the plaintiff’s federal claims.25 Sprint, however, has recently rejected this approach. The Court instead held that the Middlesex factors are to be considered only when the case falls within one of the three NOPSI categories.26 Given the clarification of this complex area of the law provided in Sprint, advocates facing a Younger issue should first research post-Sprint cases in their circuit.
When federal constitutional claims arise from unsettled issues of state law, federal courts have discretion to abstain from exercising jurisdiction. When they do so, the federal courts avoid predicting what state courts would decide and permit the state courts the first opportunity to interpret state law. Doing so may also dispose of the need of the federal court to decide the federal constitutional issue later.
This aspect of abstention, known as Pullman abstention, was announced by the Supreme Court in Railroad Commission v. Pullman Co.49 In Pullman, the railroad sued a state regulatory agency. The railroad challenged on Fourteenth Amendment grounds the requirement that all trains in Texas have a conductor in each sleeping car. Employment in the railroad industry was racially segregated; whites were employed as conductors, while African Americans performing similar work were employed as porters. Thus, the regulation had a discriminatory impact on African Americans.
The Court held that the authority of the regulatory agency to issue the challenged requirement was unclear under state law. Reasoning that resolution of the question could obviate the need to decide the constitutional issue, the Court ruled that the uncertain issue of state law should be resolved in state court before a federal court adjudicated the constitutional challenge. Thus, the Court in Pullman required the district court to abstain in order to enable the parties to litigate the unresolved question of state regulatory authority in state court.
In Burford v. Sun Oil Company, the Supreme Court ordered the dismissal of a federal suit challenging the reasonableness under Texas law of a state commission’s decision to grant a permit to drill oil wells.78 The Court created what has become known as Burford abstention to avoid the potentially disruptive impact that federal court intervention would have had on the state’s efforts to maintain a unique and complex administrative structure to regulate a vital state activity.
When plaintiffs must split their claims to avoid the Eleventh Amendment bar, they may lessen the likelihood of Colorado River abstention by delaying the filing of the state claim until substantial progress is made on the federal lawsuit. Delay in filing the state claim also minimizes the risk that the state case will be decided first and thereby acquire preclusive effect.121 However, a plaintiff following this strategy must take care not to delay filing a state claim beyond the statute of limitations. For claims against the state, statutes of limitations are often short, but state tolling policies may extend these periods.
A less risky strategy may be to file both state and federal claims in federal court whenever there is an arguable basis for reading Pennhurst narrowly. Even if the federal court dismisses the state claim, the risk of a later, refiled state claim acquiring preclusive effect may be at least partially minimized.
1. Colorado River Water Conservation District v. United States, 424 U.S. 800, 813 (1976). See also Railroad Commission v. Pullman Company, 312 U.S. 496 (1941).
2. The Supreme Court has “often acknowledged that federal courts have a strict duty to exercise the jurisdiction that is conferred upon them by Congress.” Quackenbush v. Allstate Insurance Company, 517 U.S. 706, 716 (1996) (citations omitted). Nevertheless, the Court went on to observe: “This duty is not, however, absolute . . . . Indeed, we have held that federal courts may decline to exercise their jurisdiction, in otherwise exceptional circumstances, where denying a federal forum would clearly serve an important countervailing interest, for example, where abstention is warranted by considerations of proper constitutional adjudication, regard for federal-state relations, or wise judicial administration . . . .” Id. (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). To this end, the Court has observed, "Indeed, it would appear that abstention may be raised by the court sua sponte." Bellotti v. Baird, 428 U.S. 132, 143 n.10 (1976) (citations omitted). The Court recognized, however, that abstention from the exercise of federal jurisdiction was the exception, not the rule, and it should rarely be invoked. Ankenbrandt v. Richards, 504 U.S. 689, 705 (1992).
3. Pennzoil Company v. Texaco Incorporated, 481 U.S. 1, 11 n.9 (1987).
4. Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37 (1971).
5. See id. at 48-49; Perez v. Ledesma, 401 U.S. 82, 85 (1971). This inquiry largely hinges, the lower federal courts have since emphasized, upon a showing of the subjective motivation of the state authority in bringing the proceeding. This has proven to be a difficult task for plaintiffs. E.g., Phelps v. Hamilton, 59 F.3d 1058, 1064-65 (10th Cir. 1995) (factors for determining whether prosecution was brought in bad faith or to harass include: (1) whether it was frivolous or undertaken with no objective hope of success; (2) whether it was motivated by defendant’s suspect class or in retaliation for exercise of constitutional rights; and (3) whether it was conducted in manner to harass or to constitute abuse of prosecutorial discretion, typically through unjustified and oppressive use of multiple prosecutions). But see Kern v. Clark, 331 F.3d 9, 12-13 (2d Cir. 2003) (district court committed error in resolving factual disputes regarding bad faith exception to Younger without conducting evidentiary hearing).
6. Younger, 401 U.S. at 53. See Kugler v. Helfant, 421 U.S. 117, 124–25 (1975) (such circumstances would involve state court or agency being “incapable of fairly and fully adjudicating the federal issues before it.”). Bias might be one such circumstance, see Gibson v. Berryhill, 411 U.S. 564 (1973), but plaintiffs have otherwise faced uphill challenges in invoking this second exception to abstention. See Diamond “D” Construction Corporation v. McGowen, 282 F.3d 191, 201–02 (2d Cir. 2002) (“extraordinary circumstances” exception did not apply where plaintiff could pursue state mandamus relief for state agency’s alleged delay in conducting administrative proceedings); Lawson v. City of Buffalo, 52 F. App’x 562 (2d Cir. 2002) (“irreparable harm” exception to Younger inapplicable in due process contest of state criminal court order of demolition of plaintiffs’ homes where no demolition order was currently in effect and any future order could be appealed in state court); Employers Resource Management Company v. Shannon, 65 F.3d 1126 (4th Cir. 1995), cert. denied, 516 U.S. 1094 (1996) (refusing to find “extraordinary circumstances” to Younger abstention in federal action since there was no showing that state commission was incapable of reviewing ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act) federal preemption claim in context of state administrative proceeding). In Esso Standard Oil Company v. Cotto, 389 F.3d 212, 216 (1st Cir. 2004) ("Esso I"), the court determined that Younger abstention should be upheld despite a significant showing of actual bias in an agency adjudicative hearing process, because the plaintiff could potentially use state interlocutory review procedures to address the bias claim. Following an unsuccessful attempt to seek interlocutory relief through the Puerto Rican court system however, plaintiff returned to the federal court, which declined to abstain further and proceeded to address the claims of bias in the administrative process. Esso Standard Oil Company v. Lopez-Freytes, 522 F.3d 136 (1st Cir. 2008) ("Esso II").
7. Younger, 401 U.S. at 53–54 (quoting Watson v. Buck, 313 U.S. 387, 402 (1941)). The Court used the “patently violative” exception as an illustration of “extraordinary circumstances” in which an exception might be justified. The Court, however, never further defined this exception or indicated what other “extraordinary circumstances,” if any, would fit into it. The “possible unconstitutionality of a statute ‘on its face’ does not in itself justify an injunction against good faith attempts to enforce it,” especially absent “any showing of bad faith, harassment, or any other unusual circumstance that would call for equitable relief.” Id. at 54.
8. See Samuels v. Mackell, 401 U.S. 66 (1971).
9. Huffman v. Pursue Limited, 420 U.S. 592 (1975).
10. See, e.g., Pennzoil, 481 U.S. at 14 n.12; Moore v. Sims, 442 U.S. 415, 423 n.8 (1979).
11. See Trainor v. Hernandez, 431 U.S. 434, 444 (1977) (action to recover fraudulently obtained public assistance payments). See also Moore v. Sims, 442 U.S. 415, 423 (1979) (state child neglect proceedings).
12. See, e.g., Pennzoil, 481 U.S. at 11 (proceeding to enforce judgment on tortuous inducement of breach of contract); Juidice v. Vail, 430 U.S. 327, 328 (1977) (contempt of court proceedings).
13. Middlesex County Ethics Committee v. Garden State Bar Association, 457 U.S. 423 (1982).
14. Ohio Civil Rights Commission v. Dayton Christian Schools, Incorporated, 477 U.S. 619 (1986).
15. See Brown v. Day, 555 F.3d 882, 888 n.5 (10th Cir. 2009) (abstention was not warranted where plaintiff had requested state administrative hearing contesting termination of her Medicaid benefits and had received final adverse agency decision prior to commencing federal action); see also Casiano-Montanez v. State Insurance Fund Corporation, 707 F.3d 124, 128 (1st Cir. 2013) (Younger abstention inappropriate where plaintiffs voluntarily initiated state administrative personnel proceedings that were remedial in nature, not coercive); Devlin v. Kalm, 594 F.3d 893 (6th Cir. 2010) (applying coercive-remedial distinction to decline to abstain under Younger, where plaintiff was identical in state and federal actions and did not seek to enjoin state proceeding or shield himself from state enforcement efforts).
16. Sprint Communications, Inc. v. Jacobs, 134 S. Ct. 584, 593 n.6 (2013).
17. New Orleans Public Service, Incorporated v. Council of City of New Orleans, 491 U.S. 350, 368 (1989).
20. 134 S. Ct. 584 (2013).
21. Id. at 588 (quoting NOPSI, 491 U.S. at 367-68).
24. E.g., M&A Gabaee v. Community Redevelopment Agency, 419 F.3d 1036, 1039 (9th Cir. 2005); Norwood v. Dickey, 409 F.3d 901, 903 (8th Cir. 2005); Joseph A. v. Ingram, 275 F.3d 1253, 1267 (10th Cir. 2002); Diamond “D” Construction Corporation v. McGowan, 282 F.3d 191, 198 (2d Cir. 2002); Wightman v. Texas Supreme Court, 84 F.3d 188, 189 (5th Cir. 1996), cert. denied, 519 U.S. 1080 (1997); Brooks v. New Hampshire Supreme Court, 80 F.3d 633, 638 (1st Cir. 1996); Fieger v. Thomas, 74 F.3d 740, 743–44 (6th Cir. 1996).
25. Middlesex County Ethics Committee, 457 U.S. at 432.
26. Sprint Communications, Inc., 134 S. Ct. at 593; see Gonzalez v. Waterfront Commission of the New York Harbor, 755 F.3d 176, 181 (3d Cir. 2014). Lower courts have taken a variety of approaches in applying the Sprint analysis. In upholding abstention in a challenge to a state administrative proceeding regarding discrimination, the First Circuit in Sirva Relocation, LLC v. Richie, 794 F.3d 185, 192-92 (1st Cir. 2015), noted that while Sprint did not “entirely abandon” the Middlesex factors, they are only applied if one of the three types of state proceedings are involved. In upholding abstention involving state attorney disciplinary proceedings, the court in Peters v. Neroni, 598 F. App’x 797, 798 (2d Cir. 2015), applied a more direct analysis, holding that the Sprint court rejected the Middlesex factors outright, “in favor of a categorical approach.” See Falco v. Justices of the Matrimonial Parts of the Supreme Court, 805 F.3d 425, 428 (2d Cir. 2015) (abstention upheld in constitutional challenge to state divorce and custody proceedings uniquely furthered ability of state courts to perform their judicial functions); see also Google, Inc. v. Hood, 822 F.3d 212, 223 (5th Cir. 2016) (abstention denied where challenged administrative subpoena did not constitute ongoing state judicial proceeding); Mulholland v. Marion County Election Board, 746 F.3d 811, 816-17 (7th Cir. 2014) (abstention inappropriate in challenge to state election board investigation, since it did not meet critical post-Sprint threshold of quasi-criminal proceeding). For a somewhat different formulation, see ReadyLink Healthcare, Inc. v. State Compensation Insurance Fund, 754 F.3d 754, 759 (9th Cir. 2014).
27. “This doctrine of federal abstention rests foursquare on the notion that, in the ordinary course, 'a state proceeding provides an adequate forum for the vindication of federal constitutional rights.'” Diamond “D” Construction Corporation, 282 F.3d at 198 (quoting Cullen v. Fliegner, 18 F.3d 96, 103 (2d Cir.), cert. denied sub nom. Tuxedo Union Free School District Dist. v. Cullen, 513 U.S. 985 (1994)) (citing Kugler v. Helfant, 421 U.S. 117, 124 (1975)).
28. The Supreme Court in Juidice v. Vail, 430 U.S. 327, 337 (1977), emphasized: “[Plaintiffs] need be accorded only an opportunity to fairly pursue their constitutional claims in the ongoing state proceedings, and their failure to avail themselves of such opportunities does not mean that the state procedures were inadequate.” (citations and footnotes omitted). Younger abstention “naturally presupposes the opportunity to raise and have timely decided by a competent state tribunal the federal issues involved.” Gibson v. Berryhill, 411 U.S. 564, 577 (1973). See also Pennzoil Co. v. Texaco Incorporated, 481 U.S. 1, 14 (1987) (quoting Moore, 442 U.S. at 432) (holding that “the burden on this point rests on the federal plaintiff to show ‘that state procedural law barred presentation of [its] claims.’”).
29. Ohio Civil Rights Commission v. Dayton Christian Schools, Incorporated, 477 U.S. 619, 619 (1986).
30. Id. at 629 (“[I]t is sufficient under Middlesex . . . that constitutional claims may be raised in state-court judicial review of the administrative proceeding.”). Similarly, in Huffman v. Pursue Ltd., 420 U.S. 592, 608 (1975), the Supreme Court concluded that, where the plaintiff had not exhausted state court appeals, abstention was appropriate. The Dayton Christian Schools and Huffman decisions should not be confused with either Patsy v. Board of Regents, 457 U.S. 496 (1982), or Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167 (1961). The Court in Patsy held that exhaustion of administrative remedies was not required under Section 1983. In Monroe, the Court held that exhaustion of state judicial remedies was not a prerequisite to litigation under Section 1983. The Dayton and Huffman holdings do not undermine either rule; rather they prohibit injunctive relief against ongoing administrative or judicial proceedings.
31. Hirsh v. Justices of the Supreme Court of California, 67 F.3d 708 (9th Cir. 1995).
32. Id. at 747-48. See Dayton Christian Schools, 477 U.S. at 629 (noting that holding that state agency could not interpret its own statutory mandate in light of federal constitutional principles would be “unusual doctrine”).
33. Hirsh, 67 F.3d at 713. See Brooks v. New Hampshire Supreme Court, 80 F.3d 633, 639 (1st Cir. 1996) (abstention upheld in challenge to enforcement of confidentiality of attorney disciplinary proceedings rule, where state court appeal, despite its being closed to public, still presented adequate opportunity to litigate federal claims); Doe v. Connecticut, 75 F.3d 81, 85 (2d Cir. 1996) (abstention invoked in doctor’s Americans with Disabilities Act federal court challenge to state’s administrative disciplinary action seeking revocation of his license since state proceedings implicated important state interests and plaintiff could assert federal statutory claims in context of eventual court appeal); Wightman v. Texas Supreme Court, 84 F.3d 188, 190 (5th Cir. 1996), cert. denied, 519 U.S. 1080 (1997) (constitutional objections could be raised at multiple stages of attorney discipline administrative proceedings and on appeal, thus satisfying Younger abstention). But cf. Meredith v. Oregon, 312 F.3d 807, 818-20 (9th Cir. 2003) (affirming denial of abstention where plaintiff did not have adequate or timely opportunity to raise constitutional challenge to administrative enforcement action for erecting sign on vacant property without permit).
34. See, e.g., Gerstein v. Pugh, 420 U.S. 103, 107 n.9 (1975) (Younger distinguished by Supreme Court in challenge to state court procedures of pretrial detention of persons without judicial finding of probable cause since issue raised by plaintiffs “could not be raised in defense of the criminal prosecution,” federal injunctive order to hold preliminary hearings was not directed at state prosecutions, and order “could not prejudice the conduct of the trial on the merits”); LaShawn A. v. Kelly, 990 F.3d 1319, 1323 (D.C. Cir. 1993), cert. denied sub nom. Kelly v. LaShawn A. by Moore, 510 U.S. 1044 (1994) (abstention rejected in child welfare system challenge brought by foster care children, where state Family Division case law precedent indicated that those proceedings were “questionable vehicle” for raising plaintiffs’ “multifaceted request for broad-based injunctive relief based on the Constitution and on federal and local statutory law.”). But see Hansel v. Town Court, 56 F.3d 391, 393-94 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 516 U.S. 1012 (1995) (abstention applied in challenge to constitutionality of use of nonlawyer judges in town criminal court system, where, even though state’s highest court had already declared this type of system constitutional, federal court still determined that plaintiff could raise federal claims in state court); Joseph A. v. Ingram, 275 F.3d 1253, 1273-74 (10th Cir. 2002) (abstention affirmed in consent decree enforcement action brought by state wards who experienced abuse or neglect and alleged lack of meaningful access to adoption services, where, although individual children’s court proceedings may not be authorized to hear class actions, they possessed power to consider federal claims, including plaintiffs’ claimed due process violations); J.B. v. Valdez, 186 F.3d 1280, 1292-93 (10th Cir. 1999) (abstention warranted in challenge to lack of therapeutic services for disabled children in child welfare system, where plaintiffs failed to show that state children’s court could not adjudicate federal claims during periodic review proceedings); Pompey v. Broward County, 95 F.3d 1543, 1551 (11th Cir. 1996) (procedural bar to raising constitutional claims in state courts, not whether claims will be successful on merits, is pertinent inquiry in ordering that abstention precluded federal court from issuing injunctive relief on behalf of individuals alleging incarceration for failure to make child support payments following contempt hearings devoid of due process protections); Connor B. v. Patrick, 771 F. Supp. 2d 142 (D. Mass. 2011) (requests for wide-ranging injunctive relief of foster care system are not cognizable in juvenile court system); E.T. v. George, 681 F. Supp. 1151 (2010) (Younger abstention applicable in constitutional challenge to overburdened caseloads in dependency court system).
35. Harper v. Public Service Commission, 396 F.3d 348 (4th Cir. 2005).
36. Id. at 348. See also Potrero Hills Landfill, Incorporated v. County of Solano, 657 F.3d 876 (9th Cir. 2011) (declining to exercise Younger abstention in challenge to county ordinance restricting importation of solid waste, where no executive, legislative, or judicial interests vital to operation of state government were identified); Addiction Specialists, Incorporated v. Township of Hampton, 411 F.3d 399, 410-11 (3d Cir. 2005) (abstention not warranted on discrimination claims that did not implicate declared state interests in zoning and land use).
37. McCartney v. Cansler, 608 F. Supp. 2d 694, 703-04 (E.D.N.C. 2009). But see Columbus Rehabilitation and Subacute Institute v. Franklin County Department of Job and Family Services, No. 2:08-cv-103 (S.D. Ohio Dec. 17, 2008) (Younger abstention applicable where "the State of Ohio has a significant interest in decisions regarding the Medicaid eligibility process").
38. See Wooley v. Maynard, 430 U.S. 705 (1977); Steffel v. Thompson, 415 U.S. 452 (1974). In Wooley the Supreme Court found Younger abstention to be improper where the federal plaintiff, having previously been criminally convicted for his practice of covering the “live free or die” motto on the New Hampshire license plates that he was required to purchase in order to drive his automobile, sought relief that was “wholly prospective, to preclude further prosecution under a statute alleged to violate appellees’ constitutional rights . . . Younger does not bar federal jurisdiction.” Id. at 711.
39. Ankenbrandt, 504 U.S. at 689.
41. In institutional reform cases, federal courts may encounter states' use of the Court's admonition in O'Shea v. Littleton, 414 U.S. 488, 500 (1974), that federal courts should not countenance "an ongoing federal audit" of state proceedings "which would indirectly accomplish the kind of interference that Younger v. Harris . . . and related cases sought to prevent." In these types of cases, federal courts may invoke abstention even where the relief sought does not target a specific state court proceeding. In Joseph A., 275 F.3d at 1253, the Tenth Circuit abstained from enforcing a consent decree mandating access to child adoption services even though plaintiffs did not seek to enjoin any specific state proceeding. The court ruled that Younger applied because enforcement of at least some of the consent decree provisions would require “interference with the operations of the Children’s Court in an insidious way in that the [decree]…expressly prevents the Department’s employees from recommending a range of planning options for children who are in the Department’s custody.” The court viewed this as having the parallel effect of an injunction or declaratory judgment, which essentially precluded the state court from considering those options. Id. at 1268-69. See also E.T. v. Cantil-Sakauye, 682 F.3d 1121 (9th Cir. 2011), cert. denied, 133 S. Ct. 476 (2012) (abstention affirmed in challenge to excessive case loads of county dependency courts and court-appointed attorneys); Anthony v. Council, 316 F.3d 412, 419-21 (3d Cir. 2003) (abstention upheld in litigation brought by persons who had been seeking right to counsel and had been held in civil contempt for failure to comply with child support orders; retroactive relief would implicate past contempt proceedings and prospective relief regarding plaintiffs; open cases would implicate a “comprehensive and fluid system,” which must be “viewed as a whole” for abstention purposes); J.B., 186 F.3d at 1291 (abstention applied to child welfare litigation continuing jurisdiction of state court to modify child’s disposition, coupled with mandatory periodic review hearings, constituted ongoing state judicial proceedings); Luckey v. Miller, 976 F.2d 673, 677-78 (11th Cir. 1992) (abstention affirmed in constitutional challenge to adequacy of state indigent criminal defense system, where, although plaintiffs did not seek to restrain any single criminal prosecution or contest any conviction, this “only functions to set up an empty syllogism by which plaintiffs may argue that their intent is not to interfere with pending prosecutions”). Cf. Meachem v. Wing, 77 F. Supp. 2d 431, 442-43 (S.D.N.Y. 1999) (court declined to abstain in challenge to public assistance fair hearing procedures where “Article 78” state court proceedings could be filed to contest administrative decisions terminating benefits; these did not constitute ongoing state appellate proceedings); Marisol A. v. Giuliani, 929 F. Supp. 662, 688-89 (S.D.N.Y. 1996), aff’d on other grounds, 126 F.3d 372 (2d Cir. 1997) (abstention inappropriate in child welfare systemic litigation where state defendants could not point to any state court proceeding being improperly challenged).
42. See, e.g., Canatella v. California, 304 F.3d 843, 850–52 (9th Cir. 2002) (analysis of when state bar disciplinary action commences leads court to find abstention unwarranted, as no state proceeding was ongoing); Zaharia v. Cross, 216 F.3d 1089 (10th Cir. 2000) (state criminal proceeding was ongoing and abstention was appropriate where plaintiff could apply to state court to modify or dismiss contested restraining order or could otherwise appeal it to state district court and raise federal claims).
43. Hicks v. Miranda, 422 U.S. 332, 349 (1975). See Hawaii Housing Authority v. Midkiff, 467 U.S. 229 (1984) (application of Hicks ruling to civil proceedings); Aaron v. Target Corporation, 357 F.3d 768, 776-77 (8th Cir. 2004) (federal court preliminary injunction proceedings not sufficiently advanced proceedings of substance on merits to prevent Younger abstention). See also M&A Gabaee v. Community Redevelopment Agency, 419 F.3d 1036, 1041-42 (9th Cir. 2005) (Younger abstention applied to federal proceedings filed before and after state actions).
44. New Orleans Public Service, Incorporated v. Council of City of New Orleans, 491 U.S. 350, 359 (1989) (citing Younger, 401 U.S. at 45) (emphasis added).
45. Wexler v. Lepore, 385 F.3d 1336, 1341 (11th Cir. 2004). See Rio Grande Community Health Center, Incorporated v. Rullan, 397 F.3d 56, 70-71 (1st Cir. 2005) (abstention improper where federal court injunction directed state Medicaid agency to conform to federal law and did not prohibit state court from independently proceeding against agency).
46. Green v. City of Tucson, 255 F.3d 1086 (9th Cir.), cert. dismissed, 533 U.S. 966 (2001), overruled in part, Gilbertson v. Albright, 381 F.3d 965 (9th Cir. 2004). The Green court concluded that abstention was not called for in a federal action contesting the constitutionality of a state statute making incorporation of a territory contingent upon the consent of the neighboring city or town despite parallel state court proceedings involving similar issues.
47. Gilbertson v. Albright, 381 F.3d 965, 978 (9th Cir. 2004).
48. Joseph A., 275 F.3d at 1272 (“Younger governs whenever the requested relief would interfere with the state court’s ability to conduct proceedings, regardless of whether the relief targets the conduct of a proceeding directly.”); J.B., 186 F.3d at 1291–92 (placing federal court “in the role of making dispositional decisions such as whether to return the child to his parents” would prevent state court from carrying out its functions, thus requiring abstention in child welfare action). Broad-based institutional challenges continue in general to confront Younger abstention obstacles. See, e.g., E.T. v. George, 681 F. Supp. 1151 (E.D. Cal. 2010) (Younger abstention applicable in constitutional challenge to overburdened caseloads in dependency court system).
49. Railroad Commission v. Pullman Company, 312 U.S. 496 (1941). Justice Scalia underscored the distinctive nature of this brand of “abstention” by noting: “To bring out more clearly . . . the distinction between those circumstances that require dismissal of a suit and those that require postponing consideration of its merits, it would be preferable to speak of Pullman ‘deferral.’ Pullman deferral recognizes that federal courts should not prematurely resolve the constitutionality of a state statute . . . .” Growe v. Emison, 507 U.S. 25, 32 n.1 (1993).
50. Circuit courts have articulated the Pullman factors in slightly different ways. See Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company v. City of Lodi, 302 F.3d 928, 939–40 (9th Cir. 2002), cert. denied, 538 U.S. 961 (2003); Ford Motor Company v. Meredith Motor Company, 257 F.3d 67, 71 (1st Cir. 2001); Planned Parenthood v. Farmer, 220 F.3d 127, 149–50 (3d Cir. 2000); Beavers v. Arkansas State Board of Dental Examiners, 151 F.3d 838, 841 (8th Cir. 1998); Williams v. Lambert, 46 F.3d 1275, 1281 (2d Cir. 1995).
51. Baggett v. Bullitt, 377 U.S. 360, 375 (1964). See Batterman v. Leahy, 544 F.3d 370, 374 (1st Cir. 2008) (abstention disallowed, partly due to lack of any ambiguity in state law requiring clarification).
52. Hawaii Housing Authority v. Midkiff, 467 U.S. 229, 237 (1984).
53. Id. (quoting Zwickler v. Koota, 389 U.S. 241, 251 n.14 (1967)).
54. See, e.g., Carey v. Sugar, 425 U.S. 73, 78–79 (1976) (abstention appropriate in due process challenge to state pre-judgment attachment statute).
55. Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians, 476 U.S. 747, 756 (1986), overruled in part on other grounds by Planned Parenthood of Southeast Pennsylvania v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992).
56. See Fleet Bank v. Burke, 160 F.3d 883, 890-93 (2d Cir. 1998), cert. denied, 527 U.S. 1004 (1999).
57. See Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company, 302 F.3d at 939 n.12 (noting prior holdings, with one decision to contrary, that preemption is not “constitutional issue” justifying Pullman abstention). But see Qwest Communications Corporation v. Nebraska Public Service Commission, No. 8: 05CV182 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23620, at *23-24 (D. Neb. Oct. 7, 2005 ) (approving abstention). Cases allowing federal courts to abstain on the basis of preemption have been criticized as raising no substantive constitutional issue under the Supremacy Clause that justifies Pullman abstention since “the claim that a federal statute controls is essentially an exercise in construing the federal statute.” 17A Charles Alan Wright el al., Federal Practice & Procedure § 4242 (3d ed.) (2007).
58. See City of Houston v. Hill, 482 U.S. 451, 467–68 (1987); see also Harman v. Forsennius, 380 U.S. 528, 535 (1965); Mangual v. Rotger-Sabat, 317 F.3d 45, 63–64 (1st Cir. 2003) (court refused to abstain in challenge to unambiguous criminal libel statute and noted that delay involved in abstention was problematic where First Amendment rights were implicated). But see Doe v. McCulloch, 835 F.3d 785 (8th Cir. 2016) (upholding Pullman abstention to stay federal court proceedings in First Amendment challenge to grand jury disclosure statute).
59. See Louisiana Debating and Literary Association v. City of New Orleans, 42 F.3d 1483, 1493 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 515 U.S. 1145 (1995) (if state or local statute or ordinance is subject of challenge, any asserted state constitutional claims should be “so interrelated” as to render state law ambiguous for Pullman abstention purposes).
60. Examining Board of Engineers, Architects and Surveyors v. Otero, 426 U.S. 572, 598 (1976). See also Wisconsin v. Constantineau, 400 U.S. 433 (1971).
61. Reetz v. Bozanich, 397 U.S. 82 (1970) (requiring Pullman abstention to enable Alaska courts to construe unique and previously unconstrued provision of Alaska Constitution regarding privilege of fishing). See also Harris County Commissioners Court v. Moore, 420 U.S. 77, 85 n.8 (1975) (requiring abstention to enable Texas courts to construe state constitution because challenged statute was part of “an integrated scheme of related constitutional provisions, statutes, and regulations”); Columbia Basin Apartment Association v. City of Pasco, 268 F.3d 791, 806 (9th Cir. 2001) (abstention justified where detailed analysis of state constitutional counterpart of Fourth Amendment revealed significant differences).
62. In Bad Frog Brewery, Incorporated v. New York State Liquor Authority, 134 F.3d 87 (2d Cir. 1998), the Second Circuit declined to apply Pullman abstention due to the presence of a First Amendment challenge based on specific prohibition of speech even though the interpretations of related state regulations were unclear. The court, however, dismissed plaintiff’s state damage claims and declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction because they presented novel or complex issues of state law.
63. In Pustell v. Lynn Public Schools, 18 F.3d 50, 53 n.5 (1st Cir. 1994), the First Circuit observed that the plaintiffs could not “avoid [ Pullman ] abstention by excluding crucial state law issues from their pleadings.” The unsettled nature of state home schooling statutes and regulations, coupled with the particularly local nature of educational policy, led the court to uphold abstention.
64. Ford Motor Company v. Meredith Motor Company, 257 F.3d 67 (1st Cir. 2001).
65. Id. at 72–73. Cf. Arizonans for Official English v. Arizona, 520 U.S. 43, 78 (1997) (noting that pending state supreme court appeal concerning interpretation of state constitutional amendment may greatly simplify adjudication of federal constitutional issues).
66. See Charles Alan Wright et al., Federal Practice & Procedure § 4243 (3d ed.) (2007); see also Harrison v. NAACP, 360 U.S. 167, 177 (1959) ("This [Pullman] principle does not, of course, involve the abdication of federal jurisdiction, but only the postponement of its exercise; it serves the policy of comity inherent in the doctrine of abstention; and it spares the federal courts of unnecessary constitutional adjudication.") (footnote omitted).
67. England v. Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners, 375 U.S. 411 (1964).
69. The Supreme Court reaffirmed the England reservation rule in Allen v. McCurry, 449 U.S. 90, 101 n.17 (1980) and in Migra v. Warren City School District, 465 U.S. 75, 85 n.7 (1984).
70. An England reservation must be used carefully. See, e.g., Sheptock v. Fenty, 707 F.3d 326 (D.C. Cir. 2013) (action barred by res judicata where plaintiffs unsuccessfully attempted to make England reservation in state court, through motion and briefing that lacked clarity); Bernardsville Quarry v. Borough of Bernardsville, 929 F.2d 927, 929 n.1 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 861 (1991) (federal litigants must be careful to make reservation to state court, not federal court); Temple of the Lost Sheep Incorporated v. Abrams, 930 F.2d 178 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 866 (1991) (court disallowed attempted England reservation and dismissed plaintiffs’ Section 1983 claims on basis of collateral estoppel, where concurrent federal action had been dismissed on Younger abstention grounds); see also Hickerson v. City of New York, 146 F.3d 99, 110–11 (2d Cir. 1998), cert. denied, 525 U.S. 1067 (1999) (England reservation available only to those litigants who initially choose to proceed in federal forum, not in state court). But see Los Altos El Granada Investors v. City of Capitola, 583 F.3d 674, 685 (9th Cir. 2009) ("overly constrained approach to England" rejected in favor of allowing reservation where plaintiff initially files in state court and has opportunity to raise all claims in that forum.).
71. San Remo Hotel v. City and County of San Francisco, 545 U.S. 323 (2005).
74. See 17A Charles Alan Wright et al., Federal Practice & Procedure § 4248 n. 30 (3d ed.) (2007) (state-by-state listing of certification statutes).
75. Arizonans for Official English, 520 U.S. at 76–80. See, e.g., Osterweil v. Bartlett, 706 F.3d 139, 145 (2d Cir. 2013) (in case that "falls within the heartland of Pullman abstention," court certified question of residence in challenge to state handgun licensing statute, where "certification is far faster and more convenient for all involved"). See also Jones v. Coleman, 848 F.3d 744 (6th Cir. 2017) (court declined to uphold Pullman abstention in First Amendment challenge to state campaign finance law, but urged district courts to consider certification option, given the Supreme Court’s stated preference). See generally 17A Charles Alan Wright et al., Federal Practice & Procedure § 4248 (3d ed.) (2007) ("Thus, the Court has made it clear that in marginal cases of Pullman-type abstention, where delay and expense might otherwise tip the scales against abstention of the traditional kind, it would be appropriate to use certification if that is available.") (footnote omitted).
76. See generally 17A Charles Alan Wright et al., Federal Practice & Procedure § 4248 (3d ed.) (2007).
77. See Babbitt v. United Farm Workers Nat’l Union, 442 U.S. 289, 309 n.18 (1979); Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood v. Nixon, 428 F.3d 1139, 1142 (8th Cir. 2005) (“the Supreme Court has recognized that an abstaining federal court may grant a preliminary injunction while state courts construe the challenged statute.”) (citations omitted).
78. Burford v. Sun Oil Company, 319 U.S. 315 (1943).
79. Colorado River Water Conservation District v. United States, 424 U.S. 800, 815 (1976).
81. New Orleans Public Service, Incorporated v. Council of City of New Orleans, 491 U.S. 350, 360 (1989) (quoting Burford, 319 U.S. at 327).
82. Id. at 361 (quoting Colorado River, 424 U.S. at 814). See also Hachamovitch v. DeBuono, 159 F.3d 687, 697 (2d Cir. 1998); Tucker v. First Maryland Savings and Loan, Incorporated, 942 F.2d 1401, 1405 (9th Cir. 1991).
83. New Orleans Public Service, 491 U.S. at 362; Hawthorne Savings v. Reliance Insurance Company of Illinois, 421 F.3d 835, 845 (9th Cir. 2005).
84. New Orleans Public Service, 491 U.S. at 362–63.
85. Id. at 363 (quoting Zablocki v. Redhail, 434 U.S. 374, 380 n.5 (1978)). “[D]ifficult state law questions alone are not enough for Burford abstention . . . Burford’s concern is interference with the state regulatory process.” Sevigny v. Employers Insurance of Wausau, 411 F.3d 24, 29 (1st Cir. 2005) (citing New Orleans Public Service, 491 U.S. at 361).
86. Quackenbush v. Allstate Insurance Company, 517 U.S. 706, 728 (1996) (quoting Burford, 319 U.S. at 334).
87. Id. at 726 (citation omitted).
88. Id. at 725 (citing Burford, 319 U.S. at 327–28) (further citations omitted).
90. Id. at 730 (citation omitted).
91. Id. at 730-31; see King v. Jeffries, 402 F. Supp. 2d 624, 635 (M.D.N.C. 2005). Courts have, however, allowed a stay of federal proceedings on damages claims under the auspices of Younger abstention. See, e.g., D.L. v. Unified School District Number 497, 392 F.3d 1223, 1228 (10th Cir. 2004), cert. denied, 544 U.S. 1050 (2005); Gilbertson v. Albright, 381 F.3d 965, 968 (9th Cir. 2004). But see Diamond “D” Construction Corporation v. McGowen, 282 F.3d 191, 196 n.2 (2d Cir. 2002) (“Younger abstention is inappropriate on a claim for money damages”). See generally Kenneth M. Lesch, Recent Decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit: Civil Procedure, 65 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 645 (1997).
92. E.g., Adrian Energy Associates v. Michigan Public Service Commission, 481 F.3d 414 (6th Cir. 2007) (power purchasing agreements for electricity generation).
93. See, e.g., Liberty Mutual Insurance Company v. Hurlbut, 585 F.3d 639 (2d Cir. 2009) (workers compensation); MacDonald v. Village of Northport, 164 F.3d 964 (6th Cir. 1999) (land use); Palumbo v. Waste Technologies Industries, 989 F.2d 156, 159–60 (4th Cir. 1993) (hazardous waste permitting); Law Enforcement Insurance Company v. Corcoran, 807 F.2d 38 (2d Cir. 1986), cert. denied, 481 U.S. 1017 (1987) (insurance); Browning Ferris Incorporated v. Baltimore County, 774 F.2d 77 (4th Cir. 1985) (permits for sanitary landfills). See also Johnson v. Collins Entertainment Company, 199 F.3d 710 (4th Cir. 1999) (gaming industry). But see Izzo v. Borough of River Edge, 843 F.2d 765 (3d Cir. 1988) (mere existence of land-use regulation does not justify Burford abstention.
94. Bethpage Lutheran Service Incorporated v Weicker, 965 F.2d 1239 (2d Cir. 1992); Kilroy v. Mayhew, 841 F. Supp. 2d 414 (D. Me. 2012) (applying Burford absention in food stamps eligibility challenge but denying Younger abstention based on remedial nature of state proceeding).
95. Jefferson Community Health Care Centers v. Jefferson Parish Government, 849 F.3d 615 (5th Cir. 2017) (abstention declined where no state law questions or coherent public policies were implicated in challenge to eviction of Medicaid services provider); Romano v. Greenstein, 721 F.3d 373, 380 (5th Cir. 2013) (abstention declined in action challenging termination of Medicaid benefits, since cause of action involved paramount, proper application of federal Medicaid law and state law or special judicial review forum were not involved); Parents League for Effective Autism Services v. Jones-Kelley, 565 F. Supp. 2d 905, 914 (S.D. Ohio 2008) (abstention declined despite impact on state budget, where Medicaid involves federal concerns); Moore v. Medows, No. 1:07-CV-631-TWT, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47087, 2007 WL 1876017, at *3 (N.D. Ga. June 28, 2007) (abstention declined since plaintiff's claims "implicate not a complex state regulatory scheme, but an important federal interest embodied in the Medicaid Act") (citation omitted)).
96. See, e.g., Neufeld v. Baltimore, 964 F.2d 347 (4th Cir. 1992) (reversing trial court’s decision to abstain from deciding plaintiff’s claim that zoning ordinance violated his constitutional rights); Association for Retarded Citizens of North Dakota v. Olson, 713 F.2d 1384 (8th Cir. 1983) (conditions in facility for mentally retarded citizens and their treatment); Moe v. Brookings County, 659 F.2d 880 (8th Cir. 1981) (administration of county poor relief program); Hanna v. Toner, 630 F.2d 442 (6th Cir. 1980) (challenge to conditions of confinement of county juvenile detention home), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 919 (1981); Ramos v. Lamm, 639 F.2d 559 (10th Cir. 1980) (prison conditions suit), cert. denied, 450 U.S.1041 (1981).
97. Hachamovitch, 159 F.3d at 698 (2d Cir. 1998) (due process challenge to suspension of physician license) (citations omitted).
98. Ankenbrandt v. Richards, 504 U.S. 689 (1992).
100. Id. at 705–06. The Supreme Court held Burford to be inapplicable in the case before it since the status of the domestic relationship had been determined in state court and it had no bearing on the torts alleged. Id. at 706.
101. See, e.g., Dunn v. Cometa, 238 F.3d 38 (1st Cir. 2001) (tort claims regarding former wife’s management of former husband’s care); Minot v. Eckardt-Minot, 13 F.3d 590 (2d Cir. 1994) (custodial interference tort action).
102. Colorado River Water Conservation District v. United States, 424 U.S. 800, 800 (1976).
104. Id. at 818. In disallowing abstention in favor of a state court insurance liquidation action, the First Circuit observed that “Colorado River is scarcely a formal ‘doctrine’ at all.” Sevigny v. Employers Insurance of Wausau, 411 F.3d 24, 29 (1st Cir. 2005).
105. See Chase Brexton Health Services, Incorporated v. Maryland, 411 F.3d 457, 463 (4th Cir. 2005) (parallel state litigation may be administrative proceeding if adjudicative in nature).
106. Interstate Material Corporation v. City of Chicago, 847 F.2d 1285, 1288 (7th Cir. 1988). Accord Ingalls v. AES Corporation, 311 F. App'x 911, 914 (7th Cir. 2008) (determining whether state and federal proceedings are parallel involves assessing whether they arise out of same facts and involve similar factual and legal issues). See also Gannett Company v. Clark Construction Group, Incorporated, 286 F.3d 737, 742 (4th Cir. 2002); Fox v. Maulding, 16 F.3d 1079, 1081–82 (10th Cir. 1994). But see McLaughlin v. United Virginia Bank, 955 F.2d 930, 935 (4th Cir. 1992) (although two actions involved similar claims and certain common facts, they were not parallel because neither parties nor legal theories were same).
107. See Zemsky v. City of New York, 821 F.2d 148 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 965 (1987).
108. Fru-Con Construction Corporation v. Controlled Air, Incorporated, 574 F.3d 527, 535 (8th Cir. 2009) (emphasis added).
109. Colorado River, 424 U.S. at 818.
110. Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital v. Mercury Construction Corporation, 460 U.S. 1 (1983).
111. Id. at 15; see KPS & Associates, Incorporated v. Designs by FMC Incorporated, 318 F.3d 1, 10 (1st Cir. 2003) (Colorado River list “is by no means exhaustive”) (citation omitted).
112. Moses H. Cone, 460 U.S. at 16. The Second Circuit held that, although Colorado River abstention did not employ a "mechanical checklist," the district court must actually balance the relevant factors in reaching its determination. Village of Westfield v. Welch's, 170 F.3d 116 (2d Cir. 1999). See also Golden Gate National Senior Care, LLC v. Minich, 629 F. App’x 348 (3d Cir. 2015) (reversing order of abstention through balancing of factors, weighted in favor of exercise of jurisdiction); Freed v. J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, 756 F.3d 1013, 1018 (7th Cir. 2014) (upholding abstention through use of two-part analysis determining first whether state and federal actions are parallel and then applying “ten non-exclusive factors”).
113. See Kline v. Burke Construction Company, 260 U.S. 226 (1922); McClellan v. Carland, 217 U.S. 268, 281–82 (1910).
114. Moses H. Cone, 460 U.S. at 14. The Court went on to “emphasize that our task in cases such as this is not to find some substantial reason for the exercise of federal jurisdiction by the district court; rather, the task is to ascertain whether there exist ‘exceptional’ circumstances, the ‘clearest of justifications,’ that can suffice under Colorado River to justify the surrender of that jurisdiction.” Id. at 25-26. See Jimenez v. Rodriguez-Pagan, 597 F.3d 18, 27 (1st Cir. 2010) ("The crevice in federal jurisdiction that Colorado River carved is a narrow one. Of all the abstention doctrines, it is to be approached with the most caution...."). See also Gregory v. Daly, 243 F.3d 687, 701–02 (2d Cir. 2001) (disallowing, without showing of exceptional circumstances, defendant’s claim that federal court should abstain under Colorado River in Title VII employment discrimination action “on the bare fact that allowing this case to proceed will result in the maintenance of duplicative proceedings”).
115. Wilton v. Seven Falls Company, 515 U.S. 277 (1995).
116. 28 U.S.C. § 2201(a); see Wilton, 515 U.S. at 286–87.
117. See Brillhart v. Excess Insurance Company of America, 316 U.S. 491, 494–95 (1942).
118. Wilton, 515 U.S. at 282. But see Chase Brexton Health Services, Incorporated v. Maryland, 411 F.3d 457, 463, 466–67 (4th Cir. 2005) (claims for declaratory and injunctive relief “are so closely intertwined that judicial economy counsels against dismissing the claims for declaratory judgment relief while adjudicating the claims for injunctive relief”).
119. Wilton, 515 U.S. at 290; see United States v. City of Las Cruces, 289 F.3d 1170, 1179–84 (10th Cir. 2002) (citing applications of Brillhart in cases founded on jurisdictional grounds other than diversity). Some courts have held that Colorado River, not Brillhart/Wilton, governs the decision to abstain from adjudicating mixed complaints alleging claims for both declaratory and nondeclaratory relief. See, e.g., VonRosenberg v. Lawrence, 781 F.3d 731, 735 (4th Cir. 2015). Compare R.R. Street & Co., v. Vulcan Materials Co., 569 F.3d 711, 715 (7th Cir. 2009) (citing United National Insurance Co. v. R & D Latex Corporation, 242 F.3d 1102, 1113 (9th Cir. 2001)) (holding that in actions containing both coercive and declaratory claims, Colorado River mandates exercising jurisdiction over coercive claims and coercive claims are not independent, court can exercise discretion under Brillhart and Wilton over both coercive and declaratory claims and decline to hear them both).
120. Pennhurst State School and Hospital v. Halderman, 465 U.S. 89 (1984), applied the Eleventh Amendment to bar supplemental claims seeking injunctive relief to compel state officials to comply with state law.
121. See generally the discussion of claim and issue preclusion in Chapter 3.4 of this MANUAL.
122. The only exception is for habeas corpus petitions.
123. Rooker v. Fidelity Trust Company, 263 U.S. 413 (1923).
124. District of Columbia Court of Appeals v. Feldman, 460 U.S. 462 (1983).
125. Johnson v. DeGrandy, 512 U.S. 997, 1005–06 (1994) (citation omitted).
126. Feldman, 460 U.S. at 486.
128. Lemonds v. St. Louis County, 222 F.3d 488, 493 (8th Cir. 2000), cert. denied sub nom. Halbman v. St. Louis County, 531 U.S. 1183 (2001); Marks v. Stinson, 19 F.3d 873, 886 n.11 (3rd Cir. 1994).
129. Exxon Mobil Corporation v. Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, 544 U.S. 280, 284 (2005).
130. Id. at 291-92. See Skinner v. Switzer, 562 U.S. 521, 532-33 (2011) (again emphasizing “narrow ground” occupied by Rooker-Feldman doctrine, Court held that federal jurisdiction over Section 1983 claims challenging state statutes previously interpreted by state criminal courts of appeals is not barred); Thana v. Board of License Commissioners for Charles County, 827 F.3d 314, 320 (4th Cir. 2016) (noting that since Exxon, Fourth Circuit has "never, in a published opinion, held that a district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine" and instead ruled that action alleging injury inflicted by state administrative agency qualified as independent, concurrent action not barred by doctrine).
131. Lance v. Dennis, 546 U.S. 459 (2006). The Court did note, however, that it had not held that the doctrine could never be used against a non-party to a state court proceeding.
132. Hoblock v. Albany County Board of Elections, 422 F.3d 77, 86-87 (2d Cir. 2005) (acknowledging that Circuit had applied Rooker-Feldman too expansively to be coextensive with preclusion principles and that Exxon Mobil significantly pared back doctrine). See Pittman v. Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services, 241 F. App'x 285, 287 (6th Cir. 2007) ("In the wake of Exxon, this circuit has tightened the scope of Rooker-Feldman.") (citation omitted).
133. Green v. Mattingly, 585 F.3d 97, 101 (2d Cir. 2009) (citing Hoblock, 422 F.3d at 85).
134. See McCormick v. Braverman, 451 F.3d 382, 393 (6th Cir. 2006), cert. denied, 552 U.S. 828 (2007). For example, a biological father's constitutional claims in federal court against the actions of a child welfare agency, which allegedly led to loss of custody in juvenile court proceedings, were held not to be subject to Rooker-Feldman, since the challenge was against a third party's conduct, not the state court judgment itself. Pittman, 241 F. App'x at 288.
135. Nicholson v. Shafe, 558 F.3d 1266, 1274 n.8 (11th Cir. 2009).
136. Exxon Mobil, 544 U.S. at 291 (emphasis added).
137. See, e.g., D.A. Osguthorpe Family Partnership v. ASC Utah, Incorporated, 705 F.3d 1223, 1232 (10th Cir. 2013) (Rooker-Feldman did not bar federal action because state court proceedings not final while appeal pending); Shafizadeh v. Bowles, 476 F. App'x 71, 72 (6th Cir. 2012) (question remains open); Marciano v. White, 431 F. App'x 611, 613 (9th Cir. 2011) (Rooker-Feldman precluded federal action, even though state court appeals pending).
138. Exxon Mobil, 544 U.S. at 292.
139. Verizon Maryland, Incorporated v. Public Service Commission, 535 U.S. 635, 644 n.3 (2002).

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