Harold Dawavendewa, a Single Man v. Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District, an Arizona Corporation, the Navajo Nation

OVERVIEW

Harold Dawavendewa (“Dawavendewa”) sued the Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District (“SRP”) for employing a hiring preference policy in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In particular, he alleged that SRP’s lease with the Navajo Nation (“Nation”) required it to preferentially hire Navajos at the Navajo Generating Station (“NGS”). The district court dismissed Da-wavendewa’s complaint for failure to join the Nation as an indispensable party.

Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , we have jurisdiction over Dawavendewa’s timely appeal. As a signatory to the lease, we conclude the Nation is a necessary party that cannot be joined because it enjoys tribal sovereign immunity. We further conclude that tribal officials cannot be joined to replace the immune Nation; rather, the Nation itself is indispensable to this suit. Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s dismissal of Dawavendewa’s complaint without prejudice.

BACKGROUND

SRP operates NGS on reservation lands leased directly from the Navajo Nation. As required by its lease, SRP extends employment preferences to qualified local Navajos at NGS. This lease provision mirrors the Navajo…