Rancho Palos Verdes Corporation, a Corporation v. City of Laguna Beach, a Municipal Corporation

These cross appeals are taken from an order of the district court abstaining from the exercise of federal jurisdiction, while at the same time retaining jurisdiction for the federal claims asserted by the plaintiff, pending resolution of the state issues in the state courts. We affirm the order of the district court.

The order was entered after complaint of the plaintiff had been filed but before defendants had answered. The facts before the district court are, therefore, those alleged in the complaint, and for the purposes of this appeal they are accepted as true.

Federal claims were based on 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 , 1985 and the fifth and fourteenth amendments to the Constitution. The complaint alleged that since 1963 plaintiff has been the owner of 522 acres of land known as Sycamore Hills. This property has been unoccupied and unused for any purposes other than grazing. At the time of its acquisition by plaintiff, Sycamore Hills was located in the unincorporated area of Orange County, California.

In 1966, Sycamore Hills was annexed into the City of Laguna Beach. Under preannexation agreements, the city rezoned Sycamore Hills to permit development to a density of approximately…