City of South Lake Tahoe, Roger Capri, as Mayor of the City of South Lake Tahoe v. California Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, and Gordon Hooper

The City of South Lake Tahoe (City), and its mayor and members of its city council (collectively councilmembers) appeal from the district court’s dismissal of their action against the California Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and four of its individual members (collectively CTRPA) for injunc-tive and declaratory relief. The district court ruled in response to two motions to dismiss brought by CTRPA, which separately raised both standing and abstention issues. In its order of dismissal, the district court relied on the rule that federal courts should, as a matter of discretion, abstain from exercising jurisdiction in eases where the federal constitutional claims that support jurisdiction would be mooted or altered by a state court interpretation of state law. The district court did not reach the question whether the City and councilmembers had standing, although this issue was fully briefed and argued. We do reach the standing question, because we find that standing must be ascertained before a court proceeds to exercise its discretion to abstain. Because we conclude that the City and councilmembers lacked standing, we affirm the dismissal of their action without reaching the…

(concurring):

I concur in Judge Wallace’s opinion subject to two observations. It is clear to me *240 that, as Judge Wallace’s opinion holds, the city council members have not brought themselves within the strict letter of the Allen footnote 5. No palpable threat of expulsion is alleged and I would afford Allen no larger scope in the operation of the law of standing. Second, standing should not turn on whether a public official might lack immunity in a civil proceeding under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 . If Allen is to be extended to instances in which one horn of the dilemma is civil liability as a result of performance of the required duty, the probability of such liability should be quite high. Avoidance of either horn of the dilemma is always possible by a resignation with honor.

625 F.2d 231 CITY OF SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Roger Capri, as Mayor of the City of South Lake Tahoe, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CALIFORNIA TAHOE REGIONAL PLANNING AGENCY, and Gordon Hooper, et al., Defendants-Appellees. No. 77-3191. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. June 25, 1980. J. Thomas Rosch, San Francisco, Cal., argued, McCuthchen, Doyle, Brown & Enersen, San Francisco, Cal., Roy C. Abrams, South Lake Tahoe, Cal., on brief, for plaintiffs-appellants. E. Robert Wright, Deputy Atty. Gen., Sacramento, Cal., argued, Evelle J. Younger, Sacramento, Cal., on brief, for defendants-appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. Before WALLACE and SNEED, Circuit Judges, and SOLOMON, * District Judge. WALLACE, Circuit Judge: 1 The City of South Lake Tahoe (City), and its mayor and members of its city council (collectively councilmembers) appeal from the district court's dismissal of their action against the California Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and four of its individual members (collectively CTRPA) for injunctive and declaratory relief. The district court ruled in response to two motions to dismiss brought by CTRPA,…