Montclair Parkowners Association Hacienda Mobile Home Estates v. City of Montclair, a Municipal Opinion Corporation

We must decide whether the Younger abstention doctrine requires the dismissal of a federal lawsuit brought to vindicate rights under the Takings Clause of the federal Constitution.

I

In July 1998, the City of Montclair, California, (“Montclair”) adopted Ordinance number 98-777, a rent-control provision regulating trailer parks. The ordinance prohibits a trailer park owner from increasing the rent for trailer spaces in his park upon their sale or transfer by more than the greater of three percent or the latest annual percentage increase in the consumer price index (up to eight percent). Park owners may apply, however, for administrative permits under the ordinance to increase prices for the purpose of recovering certain increased costs.

On August 17, 1998, the Montclair Parkowners Association and Hacienda Mobile Home Estates (collectively, “the Association”) brought suit in federal district court pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 . The Association alleged that the ordinance effected an unconstitutional taking under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and sought declaratory and injunctive relief and just compensation for the property taken. On the…