Source: https://openjurist.org/591/f2d/1289/sekaquaptewa-v-macdonald
Timestamp: 2018-09-24 11:24:28
Document Index: 33778370

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 640', '§ 640', '§ 640', '§ 640', '§ 640', '§ 640', '§ 640']

591 F2d 1289 Sekaquaptewa v. Macdonald | OpenJurist
591 F. 2d 1289 - Sekaquaptewa v. Macdonald
591 F2d 1289 Sekaquaptewa v. Macdonald
591 F.2d 1289
Abbott SEKAQUAPTEWA, Chairman of the Hopi Tribal Council of
the Hopi Indian Tribe, For and on Behalf of the
Hopi Indian Tribe, Plaintiff-Appellee,
Peter MacDONALD, Chairman of the Navajo Tribal Council of
the Navajo Indian Tribe, For and on Behalf of the
Navajo Indian Tribe, Defendant,
Emmett Tso and Faye Tso, Applicants Intervenors-Appellants.
II. The Tsos' Motion for Intervention
A. Sovereign Immunity of Indian Tribes
Hamilton v. Nakai, 453 F.2d 152, 158 (9th Cir. 1971), Cert. denied, 406 U.S. 945, 92 S.Ct. 2044, 32 L.Ed.2d 332 (1972); See Puyallup Tribe, Inc. v. Department of Game, 433 U.S. 165, 169-73, 97 S.Ct. 2616, 53 L.Ed.2d 667 (1977); United States v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co., 309 U.S. 506, 512 & n.11, 60 S.Ct. 653, 84 L.Ed. 894 (1940). It is also clear that
Hamilton v. Nakai, 453 F.2d at 159, Quoting Soriano v. United States, 352 U.S. 270, 276, 77 S.Ct. 269, 1 L.Ed.2d 306 (1957); See Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez, 436 U.S. 49, 58-59, 98 S.Ct. 1670, 56 L.Ed.2d 106 (1978); United States v. Sherwood, 312 U.S. 584, 586, 61 S.Ct. 767, 85 L.Ed. 1058 (1941); United States v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co., 309 U.S. at 513, 60 S.Ct. 653; United States v. Shaw, 309 U.S. 495, 501-04, 60 S.Ct. 659, 84 L.Ed. 888 (1940); Hill v. United States, 571 F.2d 1098, 1101 (9th Cir. 1978); Mitchell v. Riddell, 402 F.2d 842, 846 (9th Cir. 1968), Appeal dismissed & cert. denied, 394 U.S. 456, 89 S.Ct. 1223, 22 L.Ed.2d 415 (1969).
Section 640d-7(b) does indicate that Congress intended rights of individuals to be determined in a suit such as that before the court. However, a reading of the entire statutory scheme relating to the settlement of the Hopi-Navajo dispute, Pub.L.No.93-531, 88 Stat. 1712, 25 U.S.C. §§ 640d to 640d-24, as well as the legislative history of those provisions indicates that Congress did not intend that individual tribal members be allowed to participate in such a suit. In enacting these statutes, Congress, while not unconcerned with the rights of individuals, was primarily motivated by the need to settle the tribal dispute over the 1934 Reservation quickly and fairly. See 120 Cong.Rec. 37724-49 (1974) (debate on H.R.10337; replete with references to "tribal" rights and interests). Additionally, in passing §§ 640d-10 to 640d-18, Congress indicated that redress of injuries to individuals occasioned by a tribal resolution was to be by way of compensation and relocation. See 120 Cong.Rec. 37725 (comments of Sen. Fannin),6 37728 (comments of Sen. Bible), 37730 (11 guiding principles employed in designing H.R.10337, particularly principle 9), 37732 (comments of Sen. Montoya). Finally, § 640d-17(c) provides that individual interests may be litigated in a suit between the two tribes only when those interests are represented by the tribal chairmen.7
This court follows a two-part rule for determining the appealability of a denial of a motion for intervention as of right under Fed.R.Civ.P. 24(a). That rule provides that a denial of a Rule 24(a) motion is a final judgment appealable to this court, See Brennan v. Silvergate Dist. Lodge No. 50, 503 F.2d 800, 803 (9th Cir. 1974); Reich v. Webb, 336 F.2d 153, 156 (9th Cir. 1964), Cert. denied, 380 U.S. 915, 85 S.Ct. 890, 13 L.Ed.2d 800 (1965), unless "the would-be intervenors have alternative means of relief," Hawaii-Pacific Venture Capital Corp. v. Rothbard, 564 F.2d 1343, 1346 (9th Cir. 1977); See Brennan v. Silvergate Dist. Lodge No. 50, 503 F.2d at 803
The named parties in the suit, the chairman of each of the tribes, represents his tribe's interests in the matter by Congressional designation. See 25 U.S.C. § 640d-7(a); Sekaquaptewa v. MacDonald, 448 F.Supp. 1183, 1187 (D.Ariz.1978) (Sekaquaptewa's alleged representation of tribe, villages, clans and individual members not inconsistent with Congressional scheme in 640d to 640d-24, given 640d-17(c) authorization of supplemental actions)
The dispute here centers around all 1934 Reservation land other than that portion established as a reservation by the Executive Order of December 16, 1882. See 25 U.S.C. § 640d-7(a). The 1882 Reservation is the subject of a separate dispute between the tribes. See 25 U.S.C. §§ 640d to 640d-6; Sekaquaptewa v. MacDonald, 575 F.2d 239 (9th Cir. 1978); Healing v. Jones, 210 F.Supp. 125 (D.Ariz.1962), Aff'd, 373 U.S. 758, 83 S.Ct. 1559, 10 L.Ed.2d 703 (1963)
The Tsos make much of Hamilton v. Nakai, 453 F.2d 152, 158-59 (9th Cir. 1971), Cert. denied, 406 U.S. 945, 92 S.Ct. 2044, 32 L.Ed.2d 332 (1972), where this court in construing a statute remarkably similar to § 640d-7, See Pub.L.No. 85-547, 72 Stat. 403 (1958), concluded that a court could issue an order of compliance and a writ of assistance to enforce its judgment against the Navajo Tribe in a case dealing with the Hopi-Navajo dispute over the 1882 Reservation. The court found that because the 1958 statute provided for jurisdiction to quiet title without limitation, the district court could properly issue the order and writ sought by the Hopi
In United States v. United States Fidelity & Guar. Co., 309 U.S. 506, 513, 60 S.Ct. 653, 84 L.Ed. 894 (1940), the Supreme Court refused to allow a cross claim against an Indian tribe in the absence of congressional permission to sue. The Court reasoned that such an extension of the doctrine of sovereign immunity to cross claims was necessary to make effective the public policy which protects Indian tribes from judicial attacks