Opinion ID: 108526
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The AUC Case

Text: The two cases, although different, have their roots in the formation of UDC, and it is not inappropriate that the cases were consolidated and are here together. A. As hereinabove noted, AUC in its litigation seeks two things: outright distribution of the mixed-bloods' percentage of the mineral estate, and a determination that AUC is entitled to participate in management with the business committee of the full-bloods. There is, and can be, no dispute that the United States holds title to the land, including the mineral interest, constituting the Uintah and Ouray Reservation. Prior to the 1954 Act all members of the tribe were the beneficial owners of that mineral interest. The division of the interest between the full-bloods, on the one hand, and the mixed-bloods, on the other, came about by reason of the Act and of the procedures set in motion by the Act. To the extent, therefore, that AUC, by its suit, seeks distribution to the individual mixed-bloods whom it purports to represent, it is necessarily a suit against the United States. The United States, of course, may not be sued without its consent. United States v. Sherwood, 312 U. S. 584, 586 (1941). This long-established principle has been applied in actions for the possession or conveyance of real estate. Malone v. Bowdoin, 369 U. S. 643 (1962). It has been applied to Indian lands the title to which the United States holds in trust. Minnesota v. United States, 305 U. S. 382 (1939); Oregon v. Hitchcock, 202 U. S. 60, 70 (1906). It has been applied, specifically, in a suit by an Indian who has a beneficial interest in land. Naganab v. Hitchcock, 202 U. S. 473 (1906). Naganab, therefore, controls the distribution aspect of the AUC case unless the United States has consented to be sued. The consent, it is claimed, exists in 25 U. S. C. § 345. [11] This, however, is an allotment statute. Allotment is a term of art in Indian law. U. S. Dept. of the Interior, Federal Indian Law 774 (1958). It means a selection of specific land awarded to an individual allottee from a common holding. Reynolds v. United States, 174 F. 212 (CA8 1909). See the Act of February 8, 1887, 24 Stat. 388, as amended, 25 U. S. C. §§ 331-334. Section 345 authorizes, and provides governmental consent for, only actions for allotment. First Moon v. White Tail, 270 U. S. 243 (1926); Harkins v. United States, 375 F. 2d 239 (CA 10 1967); United States v. Preston, 352 F. 2d 352, 355 (CA9 1965). See Arenas v. United States, 322 U. S. 419 (1944). Although the interest in the mineral estate that AUC seeks to have conveyed pro rata to the individual mixed-bloods perhaps could be made the subject of an allotment, it has never been so subjected. Neither is it appurtenant to an allotment. The interest relates to the tribal land of the reservation. It remains tribal property. Further, § 10 of the 1954 Act, 25 U. S. C. § 677i, itself contemplates and provides specifically for the non-allocation of that interest. We therefore readily conclude that § 345 has no application here. Neither do 28 U. S. C. §§ 1399 and 2409 afford a basis for jurisdiction; they have application only to partition suits where the United States is a tenant in common or a joint tenant. That is not this situation. The AUC action, therefore, was properly dismissed for want of jurisdiction. B. AUC's prayer for a determination as to management rights deserves a further word. The Ute Partition Act was the result of proposals initiated by the tribe itself. See H. R. Rep. No. 2493, 83d Cong., 2d Sess., 2 (1954); S. Rep. No. 1632, 83d Cong., 2d Sess., 7 (1954). The tribe also drafted the Act. Id., at 3 and 7, respectively. It provided for organization by the mixed-bloods and for the selection of authorized representatives with power to take any action the Act required to be taken by the mixed-bloods as a group. § 6, 25 U. S. C. § 677e. AUC was formed in 1956 and was the product of this organizational power. Its constitution and bylaws authorize the delegation of necessary or desirable power or authority to corporations formed by the mixed-bloods. UDC was formed by mixed-bloods in 1958 specifically to manage mineral rights and unadjudicated claims against the United States jointly with the business committee. AUC approved UDC's articles and by resolution delegated authority to UDC to act in accord with those articles. These steps were taken pursuant to the Partition Act. UDC's formation and structure were contemplated by the Act, and AUC itself created and breathed life and vigor into UDC. All this was within Congress' power. United States v. Waller, 243 U. S. 452, 462 (1917); Tiger v. Western Investment Co., 221 U. S. 286 (1911). UDC's legitimacy was further recognized by its anticipatory exemption from federal income tax, under the Act of August 2, 1956, § 3, 70 Stat. 936; by the freeing of its shares from mortgage, levy, attachment, and the like, so long as the shares remained in the ownership of the original shareholder or his heirs or legatees, under the Act of September 25, 1962, 76 Stat. 597, 598; and by the inclusion of UDC by name as an entity to receive the trust fund resulting from the judgment against the United States in favor of the Confederated Bands of Ute Indians, under the Act of August 1, 1967, 81 Stat. 164, as amended, 82 Stat. 171, 25 U. S. C. § 676a. Clearly, it is UDC and not AUC that is entitled to manage the oil, gas, and mineral rights with the committee of the full-bloods.