252, 58 L.Ed.2d 239 (1978), the court noted that "we are most reluctant to stretch the equitable doctrine of Younger beyond its prior boundaries to encompass a situation in which the only pending proceeding is a civil action filed by a federal plaintiff in a state court." Id. The court stated that the Younger doctrine "should not be extended to cases in which the state proceedings have not been initiated by the state itself." 583 F.2d at 1249. The court of appeals, finding Younger inapplicable, drew the distinction between a privately-initiated suit and one begun by the state. The pending proceedings in state court which plaintiffs sought to enjoin were actions to quiet title between private litigants. In Johnson, plaintiffs filed suit in federal court challenging the constitutionality of the Pennsylvania tax sale statute, under which their land had been sold without notice to them. Kelly fashioned a rule which serves to limit Younger abstention to its appropriate sphere. Concerned that the extension of Younger principles to all civil litigation would effectively impose an exhaustion requirement on ยง 1983 plaintiffs, the Third Circuit in Johnson v.
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