Opinion ID: 743644
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Federal Government Liability

Text: 59 Finally, we address the question of the United States' liability. We must decide whether the United States should bear any fiscal responsibility for the tragedy of these commons. The district court held that if the United States negligently failed to protect the JUA, the United States, together with the Navajo, would be jointly and severally liable for damages to the land. The district court concluded that the government was not negligent, stating that the Hopis failed to sustain their burden to show that the damage to the HPL was caused by unreasonable government action or inaction.The Hopi appealed that judgment, arguing that the district court erred by using negligence, rather than strict liability, as the standard for government liability. After oral argument in these appeals, the United States settled with the Hopi for $2,400,000, and the Hopi moved to abandon the portion of their appeal contesting the decision in favor of the government. We granted that motion, but allowed the Navajo to rely on the arguments in the Hopi briefs with regard to joint liability. Additionally, the Navajo contend that the United States should be exclusively liable. 60 We agree with the district court that the government's behavior should be evaluated using reasonableness as the yardstick. The district court assessed government liability in accordance with the only available provision addressing damages to the land, § 640d-5(d). 4 That section provides that the government will be liable for damages to the land if the government fails to provide protection where such protection is or was required by law or by the demands of the trust relationship. Protections required by law are coterminous with those required by the trust relationship. See United States v. Mitchell, 463 U.S. 206, 224, 103 S.Ct. 2961, 2972, 77 L.Ed.2d 580 (1983) (statutory and regulatory provisions define contours of federal government's trust obligations when it assumes responsibility as a trustee for Indian lands); accord 25 C.F.R. 153.3 (1976) (regulations are promulgated to carry out the Secretary's trust responsibility over the JUA). Since the government's liability is predicated on trust obligations, it need take those protective measures that a reasonable or prudent trustee would take. Navajo Tribe v. United States, 9th Cir. 336, 400 (1986); Restatement, (Second) Trusts, § 176. 61 The district court may well have erred in describing the appropriate standard as a negligence, or reasonable person standard, rather than a fiduciary, or reasonable trustee standard, but the Hopi have not argued that the district court measured the government's fault by the wrong standard. Rather, the Hopi ask that the government be held strictly liable, without regard to fault. We therefore hold that the district court did nor err in determining the government's liability using the reasonableness standard rather than a standard of strict liability. The Hopi do not challenge the findings as clearly erroneous.