Opinion ID: 171193
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Jim v. State of Utah

Text: The case of Jim v. Utah was filed on February 7, 1970. The named plaintiffs represented a class consisting of approximately 1500 Navajo and other Indians residing on the Aneth Extension of the Navajo Reservation. The primary focus of the action was to challenge the constitutionality of the 1968 Amendment to the 1933 Act, which expanded the beneficiary class to comprise all Navajos living in San Juan County, Utah, and eliminated non-Navajos living on the Aneth Extension. The complaint alleged that defendants are using and disbursing the said 37 1/2 % of such royalties received by the State of Utah in breach of their fiduciary duty to plaintiffs by expanding the same for the benefit of persons or parties who have no beneficial interest or other right therein and not for the benefit of plaintiffs. Plaintiffs requested an accounting of monies received and spent from such royalties up to May 17, 1968. There was no request for money damages. When the case was certified as a class action under Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(b)(2), the district court determined that the case had sufficient notoriety that no further notice to members of the class was necessary. A bench trial was conducted approximately one year later, and the district court entered an Interlocutory Decree and Order on February 7, 1972, declaring the 1968 Amendment unconstitutional and ordering Utah to file the monthly reports as previously ordered in Sakezzie II, for the periods from February 25, 1963 to May 17, 1968, and from May 17, 1968 to the present. Utah appealed the order to the United States Supreme Court, which reversed the district court's finding that the 1968 Amendment was unconstitutional. United States v. Jim, 409 U.S. 80, 82-83, 93 S.Ct. 261, 263, 34 L.Ed.2d 282 (1972). On remand, the district court held that an accounting had yet to be done, and ordered Utah to file a complete, comprehensive, proper, lawful accounting showing, for two periods, to wit, up to May 17, 1968 and from May 17, 1968 to the present [February 1974]. On February 7, 1974, Utah filed an accounting and abstract consisting of minutes and financial statements of the Utah Board of Indian Affairs. The parties stipulated that this information was being filed in lieu of a formal accounting as ordered by the court, and would not affect the court's right to require further reporting or accounting. Approximately eighteen months later, at a hearing in July 1975, plaintiffs' counsel told the court that there were two remaining items to be resolvedattorney fees and an accounting. Counsel further stated that [a]n accounting and abstract was filed with the court, and the plaintiffs do not object to that, and advised the court that the parties could not reach an agreement regarding fees and requested the matter set for hearing. In May 1976, the district court held a hearing on plaintiffs' motion for attorney fees. After noting that Plaintiffs had hired three of the law firms recommended by the court, each firm was awarded fees in the amount of $10,000. Plaintiffs' counsel testified that, although the accounting demand was still pending, the court might still grant the motion for fees and dismiss Jim without prejudice: Now there has never been an accounting. The case is still pending as far as that accounting is concerned. If the Court wants to dispose of it I suppose the Court can dismiss it without prejudice as far as that accounting is concerned and we think he [sic] should award attorneys' fees to all of the attorneys involved. The court responded, I think we should pursue the accounting matter, of course. I think that is the most important part of the lawsuit, really. The legal points are settled now. Let's have an accounting of what the state's been doing with the Indians' money. That's the short question we need to go into and let's pursue it. Notwithstanding the district court's directive, no further action was taken in the case until more than two years later, in December 1978, when the court issued an order to show cause why the case should not be dismissed for failure to prosecute. After hearing statements of counsel, and with no cause being shown why the matter should not be dismissed, an order of dismissal was entered. The order of dismissal is summary in nature, and no details of what was presented at the hearing were revealed. [4] This appears to be the end of the Jim litigation.