Opinion ID: 712184
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Restoring the Parties to their Pre Removal Postures; Abstention

Text: 42 We have determined that the district court erroneously denied the government's motion to dismiss the trustees' removal petition. Furthermore, we have determined that the district court acted without jurisdiction when it purported to exercise authority over the consolidated inverse condemnation and eminent domain cases. Because any post-removal actions taken by the court in this case were therefore ineffectual, we have determined that restoring the parties to the positions that they occupied prior to the removal is the proper course of action for us to take on this appeal. 43 Consequently, we will vacate the district court's order confirming the arbitration award as the district court did not have jurisdiction to enforce the award in this case. See Southland Corp. v. Keating, 465 U.S. 1, 15 n. 9, 104 S.Ct. 852, 861 n. 9, 79 L.Ed.2d 1 (1984). Furthermore, we will remand the eminent domain and inverse condemnation actions to the district court. The district court shall separate the two actions by remanding the government's condemnation action to the Territorial Court of the Virgin Islands and by retaining jurisdiction over the trustees' inverse condemnation action. 44 This disposition of the appeal will restore the parties to the positions that they occupied prior to the district court's improvident removal and improper exercise of jurisdiction. Two actions involving the same parcels of land will therefore be left pending in federal court and territorial court. Despite our resolution of the jurisdictional issues arising from the district court's improper removal, we are nonetheless concerned about the possibility of the district court's exercise of jurisdiction in this case even though the Territorial Court will also be exercising its jurisdiction over similar issues. 45 On similar facts, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ordered the district court to exercise its power of abstention. T.J. Fountain v. Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Auth., 678 F.2d 1038, 1046 (11th Cir.1982). The court ruled that the district court should abstain from deciding an inverse condemnation case until such time that it became apparent that the inverse condemnation plaintiff would not receive the relief it sought in the State of Georgia's previously-filed condemnation action. According to the court, [a]s has been noted many times before, a suit involving state condemnation of private property is primarily a local matter that is best left to the state courts. Id. The court further reasoned that although abstention was not required in all condemnation cases, abstention was necessary in T.J. Fountain because there was the possibility of inconsistent state and federal judgments. We agree with the T.J. Fountain court's analysis. 46 Like the T.J. Fountain court, we too are concerned about the problems that may arise from inconsistent judgments in this case. Unlike the T.J. Fountain court, however, we believe that the abstention decision is one that should be exercised by the district court in the first instance. Therefore, instead of ordering the district court to abstain in this matter, we will suggest to the district court to consider abstaining in light of the parallel Territorial Court action. As previously noted, the Territorial Court had actually entered an order vesting title in the government prior to the district court's improper removal. In remanding the case, we leave this fact for the district court's consideration in its abstention analysis.