United States Ninth Circuit

In a case involving the transfer of water rights and an Indian reservation, the district court's general equitable exemption of intrafarm transfers from the state law of forfeiture and abandonment was improper, because equity is inappropriate in the abandonment context, though it may be appropriate in a forfeiture context if landowners can show on a case-by-case basis that they were prevented from complying with transfer requirements.

Appellate Information

• Argued 11/06/2001
• Decided 02/15/2002
• Published 02/15/2002

Judges

• Before:  HAWKINS and TASHIMA, Circuit Judges, and CLAUDIA WILKEN, District Judge.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Katherine J. Barton,United States Department of Justice, Washington, District of Columbia, for plaintiff-appellant United States of America.


• For Appellees:
  
• Robert S. Pelcyger, Fredericks, Pelcyger & Hester, LLC, Louisville, CO, for appellant-cross-appellee Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe of Indians., Craig A. Pridgen, McQuaid, Metzler, Bedford & Van Zandt, LLP, San Francisco, CA, for appellee Herbert Lohse and cross-appellant-appellee Wayne Whitehead., Steven D. King, Mackedon, McCormick & King, Fallon, NV, for applicants-appellees Larry Fritz and Gaylord Blue Equity Trust., Laura A. Schroeder, Portland, OR, for appellee Rambling River Ranches, Inc., Michael L. Wolz, Deputy Attorney General, Carson City, NV, for appellee Nevada State Engineer.