Lapham v. California Energy Resources Conservation And Development Commission

705 F.2d 358 Jerd LAPHAM, Intervenor, and the Porter Creek Road Residents, Plaintiffs/Appellants, v. CALIFORNIA ENERGY RESOURCES CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION; Gloria Megino, Public Advocate; Alicia Becerril, Associate Public Advocate; Dan Parker, Defendants/Appellees. No. 82-4252. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted Jan. 13, 1983. Decided May 4, 1983. Dan G. Lubbock, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. Law Office, San Francisco, Cal., Steven M. Cohn, Sacramento, Cal., for defendants/appellees. Thomas A. Casazza, Portola Valley, Cal., for plaintiffs/appellants. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Before TANG and ALARCON, Circuit Judges, and PFAELZER, * District Judge. ALARCON, Circuit Judge: 1 Jerd Lapham (Lapham) and the Porter Creek Road Residents (Lapham and the Residents) appeal from the district court's order abstaining from the trial of this matter pending disposition of certain issues of state law in the California Courts. We are called upon to decide whether abstention is proper where it is unclear under state law if persons whose property is in the vicinity of a proposed power line have…