People Ex Rel. Lungren v. COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY FOR CITY OF PALM SPRINGS

The Attorney General, plaintiff below, appeals from the judgment dismissing his complaint against the Community Redevelopment Agency for the City of Palm Springs (Agency). In his complaint the Attorney General challenged the actions of the Agency in entering into a contract with the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians (Tribe) under which the Agency would transfer real property owned or acquired by it to the Tribe for use in the Tribe’s gaming operations, and in exchange the Tribe would give the Agency a share of the gambling proceeds. The trial court found that the Tribe was an indispensable party to the action but could not be joined because of its sovereign immunity, and on the Agency’s motion the court dismissed the complaint. We conclude that the Tribe was not an indispensable party to the action and we reverse.

Facts

In October 1994 the Agency and the Tribe entered into a disposition and development agreement (DDA) outlining the development of a gaming casino on 10.3 acres of property located in the City of Palm Springs (City). Under the DDA the Tribe would acquire from its Indian owners several parcels of real property located in downtown City, and the Tribe…