Opinion ID: 1383213
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Proceeding Is Ongoing and Judicial in Nature.

Text: It is uncontested that the state proceeding at issue is judicial in nature, as the motivating factor behind the Department's filing of its complaint was to enforce its real estate licensing requirements against Stroman. See id. at 712 (for Younger abstention purposes, administrative proceedings are judicial in nature when they are coercive, such as state enforcement proceedings). Yet Stroman disagrees that this proceeding should be characterized as ongoing since the Department filed its administrative complaint after Stroman filed its claim in federal court. But the precise timing and order of the Department's filing is less important than the extent to which the federal proceedings had progressed when the state proceedings began. Younger abstention has been held to apply when state proceedings begin after a federal complaint is filed, but before any proceedings of substance on the merits have taken place in the federal court. Hicks v. Miranda, 422 U.S. 332, 349, 95 S.Ct. 2281, 45 L.Ed.2d 223 (1975); see also Forty One News, Inc. v. County of Lake, 491 F.3d 662, 666-67 (7th Cir.2007) (court's resolution of Rule 12(b)(6) motion did not constitute a proceeding of substance on the merits); Mannheim Video v. County of Cook, 884 F.2d 1043, 1045-46 (7th Cir.1989) (same); Ciotti v. County of Cook, 712 F.2d 312, 313-14 (7th Cir.1983) (same, for court's determination that plaintiff had standing to sue). When the Department filed its administrative complaint against Stroman, no proceedings of substance had occurred as the Department had yet to respond to Stroman's complaint in federal court. Therefore, for purposes of abstention, we consider the state proceeding at issue to be ongoing. We also conclude that this state proceeding provides Stroman with an adequate opportunity to raise its federal constitutional claim. In Green, an Illinois court's review of the administrative proceeding was determined to provide the plaintiff with an adequate opportunity to raise his due process and equal protection challenges. 281 F.3d at 666. We see no reason why Stroman's dormant Commerce Clause claim could not also be adequately addressed on judicial review in the event of an adverse administrative decision. See 225 Ill. Comp. Stat. § 454/20-75 (subjecting all final decisions of the Office of Banks and Real Estate to judicial review).