United States v. Alpine Land and Reservoir Company, Pyramid Lake Paiutetribe, Applicant for Intervention-Appellant

The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe (hereinafter The Tribe) appeals from an Order of United States District Judge Roger T. Foley, District of Nevada, filed January 6, 1969, denying motion of The Tribe to intervene as a defendant, counter-claimant and cross-complainant.

The Tribe sought to intervene by motion filed last March 4, 1968, seeking adjudication of “the relative rights of all parties to this suit in and to the water of the Carson River and its tributaries.” The motion to intervene was denied by the Court on the grounds that (1) it was not timely within the provisions of Rule 24(a), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure; (2) The Tribe has no interest in the waters of the Carson and, therefore, is not possessed of the requisite interest relating to the property or transaction which is the subject of the action, as required by Rule 24(a) and (b), supra; and (3) any interest The Tribe might have in the Truekee River water which might be the subject of diversion is adequately represented by the United States.

This Court concludes that, for the reasons hereafter discussed, The Tribe’s motion to intervene was not timely made nor does The Tribe have the requisite interest in the subject…