Agriesti

Plaintiffs-Appellants Agriesti and Arnodo appeal the district court’s decision to abstain from hearing their 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985 actions. After their arrests for distributing handbills on a sidewalk adjacent to the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, plaintiffs sued MGM and Clark County in federal district court, seeking monetary, declaratory, and injunctive relief, for violations of their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. After a hearing on plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction, the district court dismissed plaintiffs’ complaint on the basis of Younger abstention, finding that the arrests and potential prosecutions constituted ongoing judicial proceedings. See Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37 , 91 S.Ct. 746 , 27 L.Ed.2d 669 (1971).

*1001 We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we reverse the district court order. The requirements for Younger abstention have not been met because no state judicial proceedings are pending. We remand to the district court for proceedings on the merits of plaintiffs’ claims.

BACKGROUND

The Tropicana sidewalk is owned by Defendant MGM Grand Hotel. It runs along Tropicana Avenue between Las Vegas Boulevard and Koval…