- Details
- By Levi Rickert
The Klamath Tribes filed a motion Nov. 19 in Klamath County Circuit Court seeking to amend their petition to overturn what they call illegal orders that removed the longtime administrative law judge overseeing the Klamath Basin Adjudication (KBA). Tribal leaders say the judge’s removal followed a secret agreement between Oregon’s Office of Administrative Hearings and Upper Klamath Basin water users.
In August, Chief Administrative Law Judge Jeffrey Rhoades replaced Joe Allen, who had presided over the KBA for years. The Tribes say the move ignored two prior rulings — in November 2024 and March 2025 — that rejected challenges to Allen by the Upper Basin Irrigators and affirmed he should remain on the case.
The Upper Basin Irrigators later sued Rhoades and the Office of Administrative Hearings in Marion County Circuit Court, seeking Allen’s removal. Instead of defending the administrative process, the Office reached a confidential agreement with the irrigators that resulted in Allen being taken off the KBA cases. Other parties — including the Klamath Tribes and the federal government — were not notified.
“It was unconscionable for Judge Rhoades to remove Judge Allen from presiding over the long-running Klamath Basin Adjudication cases on the basis of a secret agreement reached in a separate case,” Klamath Tribes Chairman William E. Ray said. “These orders were done in violation of Oregon law, judicial ethics, and the Klamath Tribes’ due process rights. Any agreement reached in the Marion County Circuit Court case should have been disclosed to the parties in the Klamath Basin Adjudication, including the Tribes and United States, before Chief ALJ Rhoades acted.”
Oregon law requires administrative law judges to disclose any separate communications with parties to all participants in a case.
The Tribes say the removal and the undisclosed agreement raise serious doubts about whether the Office of Administrative Hearings can serve as a fair venue for determining their federal reserved water rights. Under the McCarran Amendment, such rights can be adjudicated only in an “adequate” state proceeding.
The Tribes argue the Upper Basin Irrigators’ push to remove Allen — who has extensive experience in KBA and federal water rights matters — appears aimed at replacing him with someone more favorable to their interests.
The KBA, a decades-long case in Klamath County Circuit Court, seeks to quantify the Tribes’ federal reserved water rights in the Klamath River Basin. The Office of Administrative Hearings conducted major proceedings from 2006 to 2012 and has recently resumed work after the circuit court sent cases back for further review.
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