Case summary
STATE OF OREGON Plaintiff, v. CITY OF RAJNEESHPURAM, a putative Oregon municipal corporation; WASCO COUNTY, a political subdivision of the State of Oregon; ROBERT M. BROWN, Sheriff of Wasco County; RAJNEESH FOUNDATION INTERNATIONAL, a New Jersey corporation; RAJNEESH INVESTMENT CORPORATION, an Oregon corporation; RAJNEESH NEO-SANNYAS INTERNATIONAL COMMUNE, an Oregon corporation; MA ANAND SHEELA, individually; SWAMI PREM JAYANANDA, MA YOGA VIDYA, SWAMI KRISHNA DEVA, MA PREM ARCHAN, SWAMI DEVA SANDESH, MA PREM PATIPADA, MA DEVA JAYAMALA, MA SAT PRABODHI, MA PREM RIKTA, individually and as representatives of the class of all current residents of the City of Rajneeshpuram; Defendants
Civil No. 84-359 FR
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF OREGON
October 2, 1984, Decided and Filed
COUNSEL: [*1] Dave Frohnmayer, Attorney General, William F. Gary, Deputy Attorney General, John A. Reuling, Jr., Special Counsel, Robert W. Muir, Asst. Attorney General, and Margaret Rabin, Asst. Attorney General, for Plaintiff.
Wilford K. Carey, Wasco County Counsel, for Wasco County.
Ma Prem Sangeet, Rajneesh Legal Services Corporation, and Robert D. Durham, for Defendants.
Opinion
OPINION BY: FRYE
OPINION
Helen J. Frye, United States District Judge
OPINION AND ORDER
FRYE, Judge:
The State of Oregon and Wasco County have moved the court to reconsider its earlier decision which realigned Wasco County as a plaintiff for jurisdictional purposes and denied the State of Oregon's motion to remand this case to the Wasco County Circuit Court. In the event that the motion to reconsider is denied, the State of Oregon moves the court to certify the removal issue for immediate appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b).
Wasco County's primary argument in opposition to its realignment is that Wasco County has never taken a position with respect to the constitutional issues in this suit, and that the fact that Wasco County has been aligned against the City of Rajneeshpuram in other lawsuits is irrelevant to its alignment in [*2] the present case. Wasco County's primary concern is that it may be subject to counterclaims or an attorneys' fee demand by the other defendants if Wasco County is forced to be aligned with the State or Oregon as a plaintiff.
For the reasons articulated in the earlier opinions, the motion for reconsideration will be denied. The effect of this court's prior order was not to realign Wasco County as a plaintiff for all purposes, but rather to realign Wasco County as a plaintiff for purposes of determining jurisdiction only. A party may be realigned for jurisdictional purposes without effecting a realignment for other purposes. See, e.g., Eikel v. States Marine Lines, Inc., 473 F.2d 959 (9th Cir. 1973). Wasco County's concern that it might be subject to counterclaims or the payment of attorneys' fees merely because the court realigned it for jurisdictional purposes is unfounded.