Turley

MEMORANDUM **

The plaintiffs sued individual officers of the Colorado River Indian Tribes (“CRIT”) for evicting them from land known as the Western Boundary. Rule 19 requires that a case be dismissed if a necessary and indispensable party cannot be joined. CRIT is a necessary party because it claims an interest in the land and its interest would be impaired by the plaintiffs’ suit. Fed.R.Civ.P. 19(a). CRIT cannot be joined because it has tribal sovereign immunity. CRIT is indispensable because a judgment rendered in its absence would be prejudicial to CRIT, there is no form of relief to lessen the prejudice, and the plaintiffs could not obtain an adequate remedy in its absence. Fed.R.Civ.P. *936 19(b). The plaintiffs may have difficulty obtaining relief if the case is dismissed, but when tribal sovereign immunity is at stake, that factor has little weight. See American Greyhound Racing, Inc. v. Hull, 305 F.3d 1015, 1025 (9th Cir.2002).

Because Indian trusts lands are at stake, the United States is also a necessary and indispensable party. See Imperial Granite Co. v. Pala Band of Mission Indians, 940 F.2d 1269 , 1272 n. 4 (9th Cir.1991); Carlson v. Tulalip Tribes of Washington,…