Quackenbush

Appellants Fireman’s Fund and related insurance companies (“Fireman’s Fund” or “the insurers”) brought this action against Appellee John Garamendi, 1 Insurance Commissioner for the State of California (“the Commissioner”), alleging that regulations promulgated by the Commissioner pursuant to an insurance rate rollback initiative violated the Takings, Commerce, Due Process, Equal Protection and Supremacy Clauses, as well as the First Amendment and the McCarran-Ferguson Act. 15 U.S.C. §§ 1011-1015 . The district court dismissed the claims as unripe, and invoked the Younger, Burford, and Colorado River abstention doctrines as additional bases for postponing resolution of the issues. We affirm the decision of the district court.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On November 8, 1988, California voters passed Proposition 103, which required insurers to reduce premium rates to twenty percent below the rates in effect the previous year and to maintain those rates for one year; after that year, insurers would be permitted to increase their rates only after having received the prior approval of the Commissioner. On November 9, a group of insurers petitioned the California Supreme Court to…