Court Opinion

ID: 9631576
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 10:43:32.830003+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:26:03.905066
License: Public Domain

WRIGHT, Circuit Judge,
concurring in the result.
The res judicata and collateral estoppel effects of the final decision1 of the Alaska *602Supreme Court in State v. Bundrant, 546 P.2d 530 (Alaska 1976), require that we dismiss the federal complaint as to those seven federal plaintiffs who are parties defendant in the state criminal proceeding.2
I agree with the analysis of the majority imputing the state criminal prosecution to the remaining 37 federal plaintiffs. While the relationship between the seven and the 37 is not such that the doctrines of res judicata and collateral estoppel should be applied to those federal plaintiffs who are not state defendants, the relationship is sufficiently close to apply Younger principles to all federal plaintiffs.
I would treat the third amended complaint as a new claim, filed after the promulgation of new state regulations and commencement of state criminal proceedings pursuant to them.3 Younger teaches that we must dismiss the third amended complaint as to all federal plaintiffs deemed subject to the state criminal proceeding.
The Alaska court in Bundrant ruled in favor of the state with respect to the same constitutional claims as those presented in this federal action. Thus there apparently remains no “adequate remedy at law” in the state system with respect to those constitutional claims. Huffman v. Pursue, *603Ltd., 420 U.S. 592, 601, 95 S.Ct. 1200, 43 L.Ed.2d 482 (1975). In the absence of an adequate legal remedy, an equity court normally need not stay its hand.
However, the Younger doctrine is based not merely upon general equitable principles, but also upon
. an even more vital consideration, the notion of “comity,” that is, a proper respect for state functions, a recognition of the fact that the entire country is made up of a Union of separate state governments, and a continuance of the belief that the National Government will fare best if the States and their institutions are left free to perform their separate functions in their separate ways. [T]he National Government, anxious though it may be to vindicate and protect federal rights and federal interests, always endeavors to do so in ways that will not unduly interfere with the legitimate activities of the States.
Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37, 44, 91 S.Ct. 746, 750, 27 L.Ed.2d 669 (1971), quoted in Huffman, supra, 420 U.S. at 601, 95 S.Ct. 1200.
The Alaska court remanded the cause in Bundrant so that “the State may proceed to enforce its crab regulations” against the defendants. . 546 P.2d at 556. The criminal trial on the merits is pending.
Federal plaintiffs mount a facial constitutional attack on Alaska’s crab regulations and authorizing statutes. Were we to grant either declaratory or injunctive relief, our judgment would necessarily prevent any and all enforcement of those statutes and regulations. Thus, a judgment in favor of any of the federal plaintiffs would preclude the state from prosecuting the parties-defendant in Bundrant. Such a result would “unduly interfere with the legitimate activities” of the State of Alaska, and thereby violate the principles announced in Younger and its progeny.
For these reasons, I agree that the third amended complaint should be dismissed as to all federal plaintiffs.4

. The fact that only three of five Alaska Supreme Court justices participated in Bundrant does not detract from the precedential value of that decision. Cf. Recent Cases, 86 Harv.L. *602Rev. 1307 (1973); Comment, 50 Wash.L.Rev. 901, 907 & n. 42 (1975).

. The constitutional issues raised in the third amended federal complaint are the same as those decided by the Bundrant court. There is identity of parties as to the seven federal plaintiffs who are also state defendants in Bundrant. The federal defendants are in privity with the State of Alaska, the state plaintiff. Therefore, the estoppels are mutual.

. Plaintiffs’ third amended complaint is actually a “supplemental pleading,” since it “[sets] forth transactions or occurrences or events which have happened since the date of the pleading sought to be supplemented.” Fed.R. Civ.P. 15(d). The repeal of a statute, regulation or ordinance the enforcement of which has been previously enjoined, followed by enactment of a new measure, is a typical situation calling for the filing of a supplemental pleading. See, e. g., Griffin v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, 377 U.S. 218, 226-27, 84 S.Ct. 1226, 12 L.Ed.2d 256 (1964).
While an amended complaint is not ordinarily regarded as a new “cause of action,” this supplemental pleading should be. Compare Cherry v. Morgan, 267 F.2d 305, 305-06 (5th Cir. 1959). (But this does not preclude us from entertaining the supplemental pleading in the same lawsuit. Cf. Rowe v. United States Fidelity and Guaranty Co., 421 F.2d 937, 942-44 (4th Cir. 1970). The need to avoid multiplicity of lawsuits, evidenced by ancillary and pendent jurisdiction doctrine, and by rules allowing liberal pleading and joinder of claims, supports a policy of freely admitting supplemental claims. See Case-Swayne Co. v. Sunkist Growers, Inc., 369 F.2d 449, 462 (9th Cir. 1966), rev’d on other grounds, 389 U.S. 384, 88 S.Ct. 528, 19 L.Ed.2d 621 (1967). See generally 6 C. Wright & A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1506 (1971); 3 J. Moore, Federal Practice fl 15.16[3] (2d ed. 1975).)
Plaintiffs argue, however, that the new state regulatory scheme, adopted June 15, 1974, is “simply a subterfuge and a flagrant violation of the outstanding injunction.” Compare Griffin, 377 U.S. at 226-227, 84 S.Ct. at 1230. This suggests that the third amended complaint is not a new “cause of action” at all.
Such a suggestion, if accepted, would support the conclusion that “proceedings of substance on the merits [had] taken place in the federal court” prior to the July 15, 1974 filing by the state of its criminal complaint. Hicks v. Miranda, 422 U.S. 332, 349, 95 S.Ct. 2281, 45 L.Ed.2d 223 (1975). In that event, Younger principles would not prevent this court from entertaining the third amended complaint.
However, I cannot agree with plaintiffs’ premise. Scrutiny of the new regulations demonstrates that Alaska has sought to follow the suggestions in our prior opinion, 377 F.Supp. at 441. See 5 Alaska Admin.Code §§ 34.005, -.030, -.035, -.085, -.098.
While this new regulatory scheme implements the same purpose as that underlying the regulations whose enforcement we previously enjoined, the means employed here are different. Compare Hjelle, 377 F.Supp. at 432-33, with Bundrant, 546 P.2d at 533-34; id. at 558 (Rabinowitz, J., concurring). Where, as here, the state has made a conscientious effort to tailor its regulations to the language of the prior opinion of this court, there is no “subterfuge” or “flagrant violation” of our prior ruling. Rather, Alaska is engaged here in legitimate legislative experimentation. The situation in Griffin, supra, is in stark contrast.
Thus, I would treat the third amended complaint, actually a supplemental pleading, as the equivalent of a new claim challenging the regulations of June 15, 1974.

. Unlike the majority, I would not rely on an “abstention by stipulation” rationale to dispose of this action. It is not clear to me that by requesting a stay pending decision in Bundrant those federal plaintiffs who are not state defendants have “unreservedly litigated their federal claims in state court . . . (Majority opinion at 600.)