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ORFF V. UNITED STATES (03-1566)
Web-accessible at:
http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-1566.ZS.html
Argued February 23, 2005 -- Decided June 23, 2005
Opinion author: Thomas
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Petitioner California farmers and farming
entities purchase water from respondent Westlands Water
District, which receives its water from the United States
Bureau of Reclamation under a 1963 contract between Westlands
and the Bureau. In 1993, Westlands and other water districts
sued the Bureau for reducing their water supply. Petitioners,
though not parties to the 1963 contract, intervened as
plaintiffs. After negotiations, all parties except petitioners
stipulated to dismissal of the districts' complaint.
Petitioners pressed forward with, as relevant here, the claim
that the United States had breached the contract. They
contended that they were third-party beneficiaries entitled to
enforce the contract and that the United States had waived its
sovereign immunity from breach of contract suits in a provision
of the Reclamation Reform Act of 1982, 43 U.S.C. sect.
390uu.The District Court ultimately held that petitioners
were neither contracting parties nor intended third-party
beneficiaries of the contract and therefore could not benefit
from sect.390uu's waiver. The Ninth Circuit affirmed in
relevant part.
Held: Section 390uu does not
waive the United States' sovereign immunity from
petitioners' suit. The provision grants consent "to
join the United States as a necessary party
defendant in any suit to adjudicate" certain rights
under a federal reclamation contract. (Emphasis added.) A
waiver of sovereign immunity must be strictly construed in
favor of the sovereign. See, e.g., Department of
Army v. Blue Fox, Inc., 525 U.S. 255, 261.
In light of this principle, sect.390uu is best interpreted to
grant consent to join the United States in an action between
other parties when the action requires construction of a
reclamation contract and joinder of the United States is
necessary. It does not permit a plaintiff to sue the United
States alone.
This
interpretation draws support from sect.390uu's use of the
words "necessary party," a term of art whose meaning
calls to mind Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 19(a)'s
requirements for joinder of parties. The interpretation also
draws support from the contrast between sect.390uu's
language, which speaks in terms of joinder, and the broader
phrasing of other statutes, e.g., the Tucker Act, that
waive immunity from suits against the United States alone.
Petitioners' suit, brought solely against the United
States and its agents, is not an attempt to "join the
United States as a necessary party defendant" under
sect.390uu. Pp. 5-8.
358 F.3d 1137, affirmed.
Thomas, J., delivered
the opinion for a unanimous Court.
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