United States Ninth Circuit

In a suit by a co-owner and by the operator of a power plant on Navajo land for declaratory and injunctive relief against Navajo officials who enforced the Navajo Preference in Employment Act against them in a wrongful termination action in a Navajo court, the district court's grant of a motion to dismiss for failure to join the Navajo Nation as a defendant is reversed, where the Navajo Nation was not a necessary party under: 1) Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 19(a)(1)(A) because the plaintiffs sought relief only against the current Navajo officials; 2) Rule 19(a)(1)(B)(i) because the officials could adequately represent the tribe's interests; and 3) Rule 19(a)(1)(B)(ii) because its absence would not risk subjecting the plaintiffs to inconsistent obligations.

Appellate Information

• Decided 03/15/2012
• Published 03/15/2012

Judges

• Silverman

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• John J. Egbert, Philip R. Higdon