Opinion ID: 1407684
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Joinder of a Necessary Party

Text: The Nation argues the trial court did not have jurisdiction over A & M's lawsuit because A & M did not join the United States as an indispensable party, it being the equitable owner of an interest in the property's mineral estate. This argument is without merit. While A & M did not specify in its complaint that it sought to partition only its rights in the surface estate of the property, this point was made clear when it filed its response to the Nation's motion to dismiss. The trial court considered the pleading as amended, under CR 15(b), [55] and ordered partition of the surface estate, but not of the mineral estate. Because the action was thus limited to a determination of the parties' relative interests in the surface estate of the property, and not of the mineral estate, the United States was not an indispensable party to the lawsuit.