Cedar Shake and Shingle Bureau Chemco, Inc. Wesco, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles

We are called upon to consider whether the federal courts should abstain from deciding a case which turns on a state law preemption question not yet resolved by California state courts, notwithstanding the existence of an Attorney General’s opinion directly on point.

I

This lawsuit is a challenge to a city ordinance banning the use of wood shake and shingle roofing materials in new construction in the City of Los Angeles (“the city”). Appellant Chemco, Inc. manufactures pressure impregnated fire retardant wood shakes and shingles, which are created by injecting at high pressure a fire retardant chemical into ordinary wood shakes. While untreated wood shakes are highly inflammable, pressure impregnated shakes are, to a certain degree, fire retardant. Appellant Wesco, Inc. is a distributor of the treated shakes; appellant Cedar Shake and Shingle Bureau is a trade association representing the interests of the wood shake and shingle industry. We will refer to the appellants collectively as “Cedar Shake.”

Los Angeles Municipal Code (“LAMC”) § 91.3203(b) requires roof coverings on all new construction within the city to be fire retardant. The term “fire retardant roof’ is defined in…