Opinion ID: 589768
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Values Underlying the Full Faith and Credit Statute

Text: 16 Because the state trial court decision is entitled to preclusive effect under California law, the parties cannot relitigate the same issues in federal court. State judicial proceedings ... shall have the same full faith and credit in every court within the United States ... as they have by law or usage in the courts of such State ... from which they are taken. 28 U.S.C. § 1738. Our decision is mandated by the fundamental purposes of the full faith and credit statute, the promotion of comity and the conservation of judicial resources. See Migra v. Warren City School Dist. Bd. of Educ., 465 U.S. 75, 84, 104 S.Ct. 892, 897, 79 L.Ed.2d 56 (1984); Allen v. McCurry, 449 U.S. at 95-96, 101 S.Ct. at 415-16. 17 The comity concerns present in this case are obvious. There are no issues of federal law involved in the district court's decision to stay the arbitration and overrule the state court order. The district court's decision to stay the arbitration rests entirely on California law. Although the state trial court had already considered and rejected Dravo's arguments that Cal.Civ.Proc.Code § 1281.2(c) applied in this case, the district court stayed the arbitration proceedings on the basis that section 1281.2(c) did apply. A federal court cannot reexamine arguments that already have been considered and rejected by a state court because such review of a state court decision creates needless friction between the state and federal forums. See Worldwide Church of God v. McNair, 805 F.2d 888, 890-92 (9th Cir.1986). The district court also wasted judicial resources by reexamining the state court order. Id. at 891; see Rex E. Lee & Richard G. Wilkins, An Analysis of Supplemental Jurisdiction and Abstention with Recommendation for Legislative Action, 1990 B.Y.U.Law Rev. 321, 372 (the demands of convenience and judicial economy become more compelling when a federal court confronts state, not federal, issues). 18 In summary, we find that MPPC's position is the better interpretation of California law. The state court decision denying Dravo an injunction was an order compelling arbitration that must be given preclusive effect in federal court. The state court rejected Dravo's arguments that the arbitration should be enjoined under Cal.Civ.Proc.Code § 1281.2(c), and the federal district court must abide by that judgment. The district court cannot refuse to give the state court judgment full faith and credit because it disagrees with the state court's interpretation of section 1281.2(c). Therefore, we reverse the decision of the district court.