Taylor v. Jaquez

• Decision Date: 10 October 1997
• Docket Number: No. 96-1426,No. 81CV5,81CV5,96-1426
• Citation: 126 F.3d 1294
• Parties: 97 CJ C.A.R. 2333 Zachary TAYLOR, as Executor of the Estate of Jack T. Taylor, Jr., deceased; Taylor Family Partnership, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Charlie JAQUEZ, Jr.; Pete E. Espinoza, Elmer Manuel Espinoza, Joe A. Gallegos, Robert Romero, Individually and as representatives of a proposed class of some 110 plaintiffs in civil actionnow pending in the District Court of Costilla County, Colorado, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

Page 1294

126 F.3d 1294

97 CJ C.A.R. 2333

Zachary TAYLOR, as Executor of the Estate of Jack T. Taylor Jr., deceased; Taylor Family Partnership Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Charlie JAQUEZ, Jr.; Pete E. Espinoza, Elmer Manuel Espinoza, Joe A. Gallegos, Robert Romero, Individually and as representatives of a proposed class of some 110 plaintiffs in civil action No. 81CV5 now pending in the District Court of Costilla County, Colorado, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 96-1426.

United States Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit.

Oct. 10, 1997.

Albert B. Wolf, Wolf & Slatkin, P.C., Denver, CO, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.

Jerry P. Gordon, William F. Schoeberlein, Otten, Johnson, Robinson, Neff & Ragonetti, Denver, CO, Robert M. Maes, Denver, CO, Rebecca A. Fischer, Sherman & Howard, Denver, CO, David Martinez, Denver, CO, and Elisabeth Arenales, Denver, CO (Jeffrey A. Goldstein, Denver, CO, and Watson W. Galleher, Don, Hiller & Galleher, PC, Denver, CO, on briefs), Boulder, CO, for Defendants-Appellees.

Before PORFILIO, ANDERSON, and BALDOCK, Circuit Judges.

JOHN C. PORFILIO, Circuit Judge.

This appeal presents the question of whether the United States District Court of the District of Colorado properly abstained from enforcing a judgment entered in a federal quiet title action because of pending state court litigation over the rights of individuals challenging appellants' interest in the land. We conclude these circumstances require abstention by federal courts and affirm the judgment of dismissal.

I. BACKGROUND

In the beginning, the 77,524 acre Taylor Ranch was part of an 1844 grant of a million acres of land bestowed by the Mexican governor of New Mexico upon Narcisco Beaubien and Stephen Luis Lee. ¹ After the grantees' deaths, much of the land in the Sangre de Cristo Grant, particularly parcels in an area designated the Rito Seco, were conveyed, although the land at issue here, "La Sierra," the Mountain Tract, was not sold until 1960 when Jack Taylor, a resident of North Carolina, purchased it. Located southwest of the town of San Luis in Costilla County, Colorado, the tract contains the only privately owned 14,000 foot mountain in the state. Mr. Taylor's deed to La Sierra recognized all existing rights-of-way and was "also subject to claims of the local people by prescription or otherwise to right to pasture, wood, and lumber and so-called settlements [sic] rights in, to and upon said land, but not subject to rights granted by the party of the first part or its predecessors from and after January 1, 1900...." Rael v. Taylor, 876 P.2d 1210, 1214 (Colo.1994) (Rael ). The representation and substance of the "claims of the local people" dating back to the original grant impel the litigation presently pending in the state district court of Costilla County albeit the federal court's order quieting title granted to Jack Taylor in his 1960 Torrens Title Registration diversity action. Sanchez v. Taylor, 377 F.2d 733 (10th Cir.1967) (Taylor I ).

To preserve that judgment, Zachary Taylor, as Executor of the Estate of Jack C. Taylor, and the Taylor Family Partnership (Taylor, collectively) filed the present action, Taylor II, under 28 U.S.C. § 2283 in the United States District Court for the district of Colorado to enjoin the 110 plaintiffs in the Costilla County lawsuit from attacking the validity of the Final Decree of Confirmation of Title and Registration entered in 1965 (the Decree). The Decree had become imperiled by a 1994 Colorado Supreme Court decision which construed the notice requirements of the Colorado Torrens Title Act and concluded, as a matter of state law, the 1960 federal action may not have provided constitutionally adequate publication notice sufficient to constitute a binding judgment on those not served. The Colorado Supreme Court thus reversed a state court order dismissing the case on res judicata grounds and remanded for resolution of the factual issues surrounding plaintiffs' due process claims. Rael, 876 P.2d at 1227. Taylor did not seek further review of that decision, and it now stands as the law of the case.

As such, defendants here, as individuals and class representatives of "some 110 Plaintiffs in Civil Action No. 81CV5 now pending in the District Court of Costilla County, Colorado," moved to dismiss Taylor II under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) on the grounds that Younger abstention, Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37, 91 S.Ct.746, 27 L.Ed.2d 669 (1971), application of the principles of Parsons Steel, Inc. v. First Alabama Bank, 474 U.S. 518, 106 S.Ct. 768, 88 L.Ed.2d 877 (1986), and the sound policies underlying the Anti-Injunction Act compel a federal court to avoid interfering with pending state proceedings.

At the close of a hearing, the district court ruled from the bench after converting the motion to dismiss into one for summary judgment under Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c) because matters outside the pleadings had been presented. The court agreed two of the requisites for Younger abstention were present, the parties having conceded there are ongoing state proceedings and Taylor has an opportunity to raise his federal claims in that forum. It further concluded, as a matter of law, important state interests involving the access to the courts for state citizens, the interpretation of the notification provisions of the Colorado Torrens Act, the state's interest in access to lands, and citizens' access to state lands precluded it from adjudicating the claim before it. In addition, the court held Rael explicitly determined the preclusive effect of the state judgment, and on that basis, the principles of federalism and comity articulated in Parsons Steel, Inc. demanded noninterference. Summary judgment of dismissal was entered, and Taylor appealed.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Although what the district court did amounts to denying a preliminary injunction, an order we review for abuse of discretion, Lundgrin v. Claytor, 619 F.2d 61, 63 (10th Cir.1980), more precisely, we have before us a motion for dismissal under Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c) which is predicated on Younger abstention. We have not previously addressed the applicable standard of review ² although other circuits have and provide guidance. Recognizing the elusiveness of the standard often applied to review Younger abstention, the Seventh Circuit observed because "application of the Younger doctrine is absolute ... when a case meets the Younger criteria," there is no discretion for the district court to exercise. Trust & Inv. Advisers, Inc. v. Hogsett, 43 F.3d 290, 294 (7th Cir.1994). Review, therefore, of the decision to abstain is de novo, the Seventh Circuit held. We agree. Although positioned on the tip of Rule 56(c) which also merits plenary review, that examination is sharpened by the legal determination of whether the requisites of Younger abstention have been satisfied. See also Brooks v. New Hampshire Supreme Court, 80 F.3d 633, 637 (1st Cir.1996); Kenneally v. Lungren, 967 F.2d 329, 331 (9th Cir.1992), cert. denied, 506 U.S. 1054, 113 S.Ct. 979, 122 L.Ed.2d 133 (1993); Traughber v. Beauchane, 760 F.2d 673, 675-76 (6th Cir.1985). To insure they have, we must be sensitive to the competing tension between protecting federal jurisdiction and honoring principles of Our Federalism and comity. Our review therefore is de novo.

III. YOUNGER ABSTENTION

"Since the beginning of this country's history Congress has, subject to few exceptions, manifested a desire to permit state courts to try state cases free from interference by federal courts." Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37, 43, 91 S.Ct. 746, 750, 27 L.Ed.2d 669 (1971). To assure this end, Younger articulated a narrow exception now applied to state criminal, Younger, 401 U.S. at 37, 91 S.Ct. at 746; civil, New Orleans Public Serv., Inc. v. Council of City of New Orleans, 491 U.S. 350, 109 S.Ct. 2506, 105 L.Ed.2d 298 (1989); or administrative proceedings, Ohio Civil Rights Commission v. Dayton Christian Schools, Inc., 477 U.S. 619, 106 S.Ct. 2718, 91 L.Ed.2d 512 (1986), which commands a federal court to abstain from exercising jurisdiction when three conditions...