Peng

MEMORANDUM *

1. Res Judicata Vis-a-Vis the City

We review de novo a trial court’s grant of summaiy judgment on res judicata grounds.

The res judicata question is whether the Planning Commission’s hearings should have claim-preclusive effect in federal court. The district court decided this issue solely on the basis of the Utah Construction test. 2 The Utah Construc *731 tion test is only a threshold analysis, however, and does not fully control the res judicata question. 3 Once the Utah Construction test is satisfied, the question of preclusion becomes a matter of state law, 4 and federal courts must give the agency’s decision “the same preclusive effect to which it would be entitled in the State’s courts.”

California administrative estoppel law follows the Utah Construction test but also includes another step: A state administrative agency adjudication will not carry preclusive effect in California courts unless the circumstances of the case satisfy the “traditional requirements” of claim preclusion. 6 Thus, an agency adjudication has no preclusive effect in California courts unless it satisfies the standard preclusion elements of California law.

California…