When a state agency declines to pursue a complaint under the Maritime Complaint Act, can a federal action be commenced against the state?

The purpose of this section of the Act is not to ensure that state agencies take action, but to give "respectful but modest deference to a state that has evidenced interest." Pacific Maritime Association v. Quinn, 465 F.2d 108, 110 (9th Cir. 1972). Thus, when the state agency declines, for whatever reason, to pursue a complaint made to it, the failure of the state to follow through will not bar the initiation of a federal action so long as the state has had some opportunity to act on the complaint. Id.