Sexton v. NDEX West, LLC, No. 11-17432 (9th Cir. 2013)
Annotate this CasePlaintiffs appealed from the district court's summary judgment in favor of defendants in an action alleging wrongful foreclosure and related claims that defendants had removed to federal court. Plaintiffs argued that under the "prior exclusive jurisdiction" doctrine, or under the Colorado River abstention doctrine, the district court should have remanded sua sponte. The court affirmed the district court's remand under the prior exclusive jurisdiction doctrine, explaining that the state court had continuing jurisdiction over the water-rights decree that was the basis of the contempt action at issue, and the action before the district court arose from enforcement of the same water-rights decree. Because plaintiffs have not shown that any state proceeding relating to their house was pending concurrently with federal proceedings, the Colorado River abstention was not implicated any more than the prior exclusive jurisdiction doctrine.
Court Description: Jurisdiction. The panel affirmed the district court’s summary judgment entered in favor of parties associated with the loan and deed of trust in an action, alleging wrongful foreclosure and related claims, that was removed from state court based on diversity jurisdiction. The panel rejected appellants’ claims that the district court should have remanded the action sua sponte to state court under two different prudential rules. The panel held that the doctrine of prior exclusive jurisdiction is inapplicable because the state court did not retain jurisdiction over the appellants’ property. The panel also held that the Colorado River abstention doctrine is inapplicable because appellants have not shown that any state proceeding relating to their house is pending concurrently with federal proceedings.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.