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Jim*nez v. Rodriguez-Pagan

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Before Torruella, Lipez and Howard, Circuit Judges.

This case calls on us to navigate the turbulent waters of Colorado River abstention. That doctrine, established in Colorado River Water Conservation District v. United States, 424 U.S. 800 (1976), allows federal courts in limited instances to stay or dismiss proceedings that overlap with concurrent litigation in state court.

The plaintiffs here originally sued in federal district court, asserting diversity jurisdiction. They later commenced an identical action in a Puerto Rico Commonwealth court during what they considered to be a burdensomely long pendency of a motion to dismiss for failure to join an indispensable party. The federal court eventually granted the motion to dismiss, leaving the action in the Commonwealth court to proceed alone. The plaintiffs appealed from the federal dismissal and now ask us to reinstate the diversity suit to its parallel track alongside the ongoing Commonwealth litigation. The defendants argue not only that we should affirm the dismissal for lack of an indispensable party, but also, among other things, that the Commonwealth-court action provides an alternative ground for disposing of the federal case under Colorado River. We conclude that the narrow conditions for Colorado River abstention are met here. We therefore stay the federal proceedings pending the outcome of the Commonwealth-court case.

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