Sinclair Oil Corp. v. County of Santa Barbara

Sinclair Oil Corporation (“Sinclair”), the owner of six lots comprising 265 acres of undeveloped coastal land in Santa Barbara County, California (“the County”), filed a suit alleging primarily that the County’s exercise of its regulatory powers had effected a “taking” of Sinclair’s property for which “just compensation” was due under the federal and state constitutions. The district court dismissed four of Sinclair’s claims as unripe for federal adjudication; the court dismissed the remaining cause of action, which sought a writ of mandate declaring the pertinent zoning actions invalid under California law, based on its belief that 28 U.S.C. § 1651 , the All Writs Act, could not provide an independent basis for jurisdiction. In this appeal, Sinclair argues that its federal constitutional claims are ripe and that, even if they are not, the court should have assumed diversity jurisdiction over the state law claims. The County responds that the district court correctly determined that this suit is not ripe. In addition, assuming that any of Sinclair’s claims are justiciable, the County contends that the federal courts should abstain from considering this case. We affirm in part,…