Thomas Gearing, et al. v. City of Half Moon Bay, California

Thomas and Daniel Gearing are categorically prohibited from building on residentially zoned vacant land that the City of Half Moon Bay prefers as an open space public park. They exercised their choice of forum by filing a lawsuit in federal court under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging a regulatory taking in violation of the Fifth Amendment, and seeking just compensation, costs, and attorneys’ fees. The City responded by filing an eminent domain lawsuit in state court that significantly limits the issues and the Gearings’ remedies. The City then convinced the federal court to abstain from deciding the Gearings’ first-filed federal lawsuit under Railroad Commission of Texas v. Pullman Co., 312 U.S. 496 (1941). As a result of the forthcoming state court decision to which federal courts are bound to give full faith and credit, 28 U.S.C. § 1738, the Gearings will be deprived of full just compensation as well as other recovery authorized by the Civil Rights Act. The question presented is: Whether federal courts may deprive takings claimants of their chosen forum by invoking the prudential Pullman abstention doctrine to require them to first litigate their claims in state court.