Patel v. City of San Bernardino

JAMES R. BROWNING, Circuit Judge.

Pravin D. Patel and twenty other named plaintiffs sued the city of San Bernardino, California for damages stemming from the city’s enforcement of an unlawful tax. The district court dismissed the complaint for lack of jurisdiction. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand.

I

The plaintiffs are owners and operators of hotels in the city of San Bernardino. The city imposed a “transient occupancy tax” on certain hotel guests, and the plaintiffs were required to collect this tax from their customers and remit it to the city. In 1991, the plaintiffs filed a…