Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/608/1228/249354/
Timestamp: 2020-08-15 06:44:26
Document Index: 374215770

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1362', '§ 3579', '§ 1341', '§ 1341', '§ 5', '§ 7', '§ 7', '§ 9', '§ 7', '§ 7']

Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, an Enterprise of the Navajotribe of Indians, Plaintiff-appellant, v. Arizona Department of Revenue, and Trasente, Neal G., Asdirector of Said Department, Defendants-appellees, 608 F.2d 1228 (9th Cir. 1979) :: Justia
Justia › US Law › Case Law › Federal Courts › Courts of Appeals › Ninth Circuit › 1979 › Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, an Enterprise of the Navajotribe of Indians, Plaintiff-appellant, v...
Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, an Enterprise of the Navajotribe of Indians, Plaintiff-appellant, v. Arizona Department of Revenue, and Trasente, Neal G., Asdirector of Said Department, Defendants-appellees, 608 F.2d 1228 (9th Cir. 1979)
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit - 608 F.2d 1228 (9th Cir. 1979) Oct. 26, 1979
In attempting to dodge the import of section 1341, NTUA has placed particular reliance upon 28 U.S.C. § 1362, which provides: "The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of all civil actions, brought by any Indian tribe or band with a governing body duly recognized by the Secretary of the Interior, wherein the matter in controversy arises under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States." (Emphasis supplied.) In Moe v. Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes, 425 U.S. 463, 96 S. Ct. 31, 46 L. Ed. 2d 36 (1976), the Supreme Court held that section 1362 provided properly recognized tribes with access to federal courts that "would be at least in some respects as broad as that of the United States suing as the tribe's trustee." Id. at 473, 96 S. Ct. at 1641. The Court concluded that, since the United States could have sued on the plaintiff tribe's behalf in the circumstances of that case, and since, pursuant to Department of Employment v. United States, 385 U.S. 355, 358, 87 S. Ct. 464, 17 L. Ed. 2d 414 (1966), the United States was not barred by section 1341 from seeking injunctive relief against the imposition of state taxes, the Tribe was not barred from doing so either. Id. at 473-75, 87 S. Ct. 464. Thus, if NTUA can bring itself and the circumstances of this case within the purview of section 1362, it can establish jurisdiction in this case and avoid the bar of section 1341.
In one of the first cases to construe the statute, we held that section 1362 "has no application" to the claims of individual members of Indian tribes or bands. Quinault Tribe of Indians v. Gallagher, 368 F.2d 648, 656 (9th Cir. 1966), Cert. denied, 387 U.S. 907, 87 S. Ct. 1684, 18 L. Ed. 2d 626 (1967); Accord, E. g., United States v. State Tax Comm'n, 505 F.2d 633, 638 (5th Cir. 1974); Moses v. Kinnear, 490 F.2d 21, 25 (9th Cir. 1974); Cape Fox Corp. v. United States, 456 F. Supp. 784, 797 (D. Alaska 1978) (dictum); Moore's Federal Practice P 0.62(18.-3), at 700.70 (2d ed. 1979); 13 C. Wright, A. Miller, & E. Cooper, Federal Practice and Procedure § 3579, at 523 (1975).
Suits brought by tribal corporations have also been found to fall outside the scope of section 1362. As the court in Cape Fox Corp. v. United States, supra, stated: "Native corporations are not tribes or bands." 456 F. Supp. at 798 (footnote omitted) (dictum); Accord, United States v. State Tax Comm'n, supra, 505 F.2d at 638; Dodge v. First Wis. Trust Co., 394 F. Supp. 1124, 1127 (E.D. Wis. 1975).
In relation to our conclusion that NTUA should not be considered a tribe pursuant to section 1362, we acknowledge that the court in Cape Fox Corp. did suggest that "shareholders and directors of a Native corporation suing in a non-corporate capacity could possibly be regarded as a tribe." 456 F. Supp. at 798 (dictum). Yet, the court there had no occasion to consider the merits of this question.
By a "tribe" we understand a body of Indians of the same or a similar race, united in a community under one leadership or government, and inhabiting a particular though sometimes ill-defined territory; by a "band," a company of Indians not necessarily, though often of the same race or tribe, but united under the same leadership in a common design. While a "band" does not imply (a) separate racial origin . . ., it does imply a leadership and a concert of action.
Montoya v. United States, 180 U.S. 261, 266, 21 S. Ct. 358, 359, 45 L. Ed. 521 (1901), Quoted in Cape Fox Corp. v. United States, supra, 456 F. Supp. at 797 (dictum) (consideration of "tribe or band" for purposes of section 1362). As the court in Cape Fox Corp. observed in dictum, "In short, Indian tribes or bands are separate communities of citizens of Indian descent, possibly with a common racial origin, possessing the power of a sovereign to regulate their internal and social relations." 456 F. Supp. at 797 (footnote omitted). Apparently NTUA and the United States, as Amicus curiae, would accept such a definition, and the Department apparently does not contest the status of the Navajo Tribe of Indians, as a duly recognized tribe for the purposes of section 1362. Instead, NTUA and the United States suggest that since NTUA is ultimately controlled by and closely related to the Tribe itself, it should be treated as a tribe for jurisdictional purposes. We cannot agree.
In Moe, the Supreme Court found that Congress intended, through enactment of section 1362, to allow Indian tribes and bands to sue, when for some reason the United States chooses not to do so on their behalf. As the Court observed, the legislative history of section 1362 is "hardly . . . unequivocal" on even this point. 425 U.S. at 473, 96 S. Ct. 31. There is not the slightest suggestion in the plain language of section 1362 itself or its limited legislative history that Congress designed the statute to provide access to federal courts for subordinate, semi-autonomous entities of Indian tribes and bands. If the leadership of a tribe or band decides that litigation is necessary to protect the rights of the tribe or band, then section 1362 will provide federal court access to the tribe or band when the other jurisdictional requirements of that section are also met.
We are not convinced by the arguments of NTUA and the United States that Mescalero Apache Tribe v. Jones, 411 U.S. 145, 93 S. Ct. 1267, 36 L. Ed. 2d 114 (1973), requires a contrary result. In Mescalero, New Mexico attempted to tax the tribe based upon gross receipts and certain personal property of Sierra Blanca Ski Enterprises, which the tribe owned and operated. The tribe petitioned the Supreme Court for review of unfavorable rulings in the state courts regarding its liability for these taxes. The Court did not question the tribe's standing to protest these taxes. Here, of course, a tribe is not a party. Nevertheless, the United States argues that the Court's decision implicitly recognized "that a tax against a tribal enterprise is a tax against the tribe itself, even though the tribe may be acting in a business capacity." Even assuming, without deciding, this to be true, See Mescalero Apache Tribe v. Jones, supra, 411 U.S. at 157 n. 13, 93 S. Ct. 1267 n. 13, such a view speaks only to the question of tax immunity, not to the question of federal jurisdiction. Moreover, Mescalero arose in state court. "United States District Courts are courts of limited jurisdiction and jurisdictional statutes are closely construed." McCord v. Dixie Aviation Corp., 450 F.2d 1129, 1131 (10th Cir. 1971). Indeed, it has been stated that statutory jurisdictional doubts are to be resolved against federal jurisdiction. F & S Constr. Co. v. Jensen, 337 F.2d 160, 161 (10th Cir. 1964). Mescalero simply does not assist the United States on this issue.
We do recognize that " 'statutes passed for the benefit of dependent Indian tribes . . . are to be liberally construed, doubtful expressions being resolved in favor of the Indians,' " Bryan v. Itasca County, 426 U.S. 73, 392, 96 S. Ct. 2102, 2112, 48 L. Ed. 2d 710 (1976) (quoting Alaska Pac. Fisheries v. United States, 248 U.S. 78, 89, 39 S. Ct. 40, 63 L. Ed. 138 (1918)). There are here, however, no such doubtful expressions to resolve. Section 1362 is not ambiguous insofar as its application is restricted solely to Indian tribes and bands.
In Agua Caliente Band of Mission Indians v. County of Riverside, 442 F.2d 1184, 1185-86 (9th Cir. 1971), Cert. denied, 405 U.S. 933, 92 S. Ct. 930, 30 L. Ed. 2d 809 (1972), and again, in Moses v. Kinnear, supra, 490 F.2d at 24-25, we relied exclusively upon the so-called federal-instrumentality doctrine, in holding that parties, such as individual Indians, who could properly be coplaintiffs with the United States, would be entitled to an exemption from the operation of section 1341. See also Capitan Grande Band of Mission Indians v. Helix Irrig. Dist., 514 F.2d 465, 471 (9th Cir. 1975); Omaha Tribe of Indians v. Peters, 516 F.2d 133, 135-36 (8th Cir. 1975), Vacated on other grounds, 427 U.S. 902, 96 S. Ct. 3185, 49 L. Ed. 2d 1196 (1976). In Moe, however, the Supreme Court made it clear that its earlier decision in Mescalero Apache Tribe v. Jones, supra, 411 U.S. at 150-55, 93 S. Ct. 1267, had "effectively eliminated (the federal instrumentality) doctrine as a basis for immunizing Indians from state taxation." 425 U.S. at 474 n. 13, 96 S. Ct. at 1641 n. 13. As the Court stated in Moe, while the federal-instrumentality concept "may well have greater usefulness in determining the applicability of § 1341 . . . than in providing the touchstone for deciding whether or not Indian tribes may be taxed, . . . we do not believe that the District Court's expanded version of this doctrine . . . can by itself avoid the bar of § 1341." 425 U.S. at 471-72, 96 S. Ct. at 1640 (citations omitted).
While section 1362 has been read to provide a coplaintiff exemption to the operation of section 1341, that coplaintiff exemption arose out of the congressional intent which the Court determined rested in the passage of section 1362 itself. Moe v. Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes, supra, 425 U.S. at 472-73, 96 S. Ct. 31. Moreover, it was the Indian tribe or band itself which Moe recognized as the suitable coplaintiff pursuant to section 1362. At least in the absence of a significantly greater identification between tribal leadership and membership, on the one hand, and management of the subordinate tribal enterprise, on the other, than that demonstrated here, we cannot treat NTUA as the Tribe for jurisdictional purposes. Nor would our conclusion be different even if we assumed that the Tribe itself, or its individual members, absent section 1362, could reap the benefits of the Moe coplaintiff rule with respect to section 1341, a question we do not reach. While NTUA is expected to act in the Tribe's best interests, the management of this semi-autonomous entity, including non-Navajo members, presumably has brought this action in its own particular interests, whereas the Tribe may have other interests which such litigation neglects. In any event, the Tribe has not chosen to join the litigation now before us and has apparently yet to initiate any on its own pertaining to this controversy.
NTUA is expected to provide the Tribe with a fair return on its investment, 21 Navajo Tribal Code (N.T.C.) § 5(a) (6); NTUA is "expected to exercise its authorized powers in the best interests of the Navajo Tribe," 21 N.T.C. § 7(a) (5); and, perhaps most significantly, NTUA is required to take title to real property and other acquisitions, including copyrights and patents, in the name of the Tribe, 21 N.T.C. § 7(b) (5), (7). Moreover, a committee of the Tribal Council appoints the directors of NTUA's Management Board, 21 N.T.C. § 9(a), the Board must furnish the minutes of each meeting to that committee, 21 N.T.C. § 7(a) (7), and the Tribal Council must approve the Management Board's selection of the NTUA's General Manager, 21 N.T.C. § 7(b) (3)
NTUA does not contend that suits, such as its own, which seek declaratory as well as injunctive relief, are beyond the scope of section 1341. See Kelly v. Springett, 527 F.2d 1090, 1094 (9th Cir. 1975) (suits for refunds, as well as those for anticipatory relief, come within scope of section 1341); 28 E. Jackson Enterprises, Inc. v. Cullerton, 523 F.2d 439, 440 n. 2 (7th Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 1073, 96 S. Ct. 856, 47 L. Ed. 2d 83 (1976)