Opinion ID: 759493
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Conversion of Motion to Dismiss

Text: 20 The Tribe asserts that the district court did not comply with the dictates of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(c), which provides, in part: 21 If, on a motion for judgment on the pleadings, matters outside the pleadings are presented to and not excluded by the court, the motion shall be treated as one for summary judgment ... and all parties shall be given reasonable opportunity to present all material made pertinent to such a motion by Rule 56. 22 See also General Elec. Capital Corp. v. Lease Resolution Corp., 128 F.3d 1074, 1080 (7th Cir.1997) (If a district court considers matters outside the pleadings, our procedural rules require that the motion shall be treated as one for summary judgment. (internal quotation omitted)). According to the Menominee, in deciding the motion to dismiss, the court considered materials external to the pleadings; namely, historical papers chronicling the treaty negotiations, an expert report, and other historical documents, such as the Tribe's 1850 letter to the President requesting permission to remain in Wisconsin, and some mid-nineteenth century reports of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. The Menominee contend that the motion to dismiss was thus converted into a summary judgment motion, and that the court improperly decided the converted motion without allowing the Tribe an opportunity to present additional evidence supporting their allegations. 23 We are of the opinion that the trial court's consideration of the treaties at issue was proper. [D]ocuments attached to a motion to dismiss are considered part of the pleadings if they are referred to in the plaintiff's complaint and are central to his claim. Wright v. Associated Ins. Cos., 29 F.3d 1244, 1248 (7th Cir.1994); see United States v. Wood, 925 F.2d 1580, 1582 (7th Cir.1991). Indisputably, the Menominee refer to the treaties in the complaint, and the treaties are central to the Menominee's claims. The treaties, therefore, were not materials outside the pleadings. 24 The district court took judicial notice of the historical documents of which the Tribe complains. Menominee, 943 F.Supp. at 1004. A court may consider judicially noticed documents without converting a motion to dismiss into a motion for summary judgment. General Elec., 128 F.3d at 1080-81; Doherty v. City of Chicago, 75 F.3d 318, 324 n. 4 (7th Cir.1996); Wood, 925 F.2d at 1582. Judicial notice of historical documents, documents contained in the public record, and reports of administrative bodies is proper. Papasan v. Allain, 478 U.S. 265, 268 n. 1, 106 S.Ct. 2932, 92 L.Ed.2d 209 (1986); General Elec., 128 F.3d at 1084; Henson v. CSC Cred. Servs., 29 F.3d 280, 284 (7th Cir.1994); Mack v. South Bay Beer Distrib., 798 F.2d 1279, 1282 (9th Cir.1986) (cited with approval in Doherty, 75 F.3d at 324 n. 4). Furthermore, a dismissal that follows from consideration of extrinsic materials may also be affirmed if ... dismissal would have been appropriate without reference to those materials. Alioto v. Marshall Field's & Co., 77 F.3d 934, 936 n. 3 (7th Cir.1996); see also General Elec., 128 F.3d at 1084. As explained below, the district court's dismissal of the case was based on the clear and unambiguous language of the four treaties. 25