Court Opinion

ID: 9793131
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 02:43:15.898499+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:01:33.044090
License: Public Domain

FELDMAN, J.,
dissenting.
¶ 20 I respectfully dissent. There is some question about a state officer’s authority to serve process on Indian reservations, but even if an Arizona sheriff has the power to serve process on Indian reservations, respect for the Navajo Nation and principles of comity suggest that we refrain from using it. Service of process can easily be accomplished under our long-arm rules, thus complying with both Arizona and Navajo law.
A. State authority
¶21 In Francisco v. State, we said Arizona had “no authority to extend the application of its laws to an Indian Reservation.” 113 Ariz. 427, 431, 556 P.2d 1, 5 (1976). Consequently, we held that a state officer lacked power to serve an Indian residing in Indian country unless the process server complied with tribal law. Id. The present case has one important difference: the defendant is a non-Indian residing on the reservation. But our rationale in Francisco, as the court of appeals correctly noted, extends to non-Indians located on a reservation. State v. Zaman, 261 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 28, 1998 WL 25559, *1 (App.1998).
¶ 22 Francisco relied on McClanahan v. State Tax Commission, in which the United States Supreme Court found that the Navajo treaty granted the Navajos exclusive sovereignty over their lands. 411 U.S. 164, 174-75, 93 S.Ct. 1257, 1263-64, 36 L.Ed.2d 129 (1973). Thus, “state authority within the reservation is preempted, and the reservation may be out-of-state for service of process purposes.” Note, Service of Process on Indian Reservations: A Return to Pennoyer v. Neff, 18 Ariz. L.Rev. 741, 750 (1976) (discussing Francisco). Moreover, Arizona has failed to adopt Public Law 280,1 which would *446have allowed Arizona to assume civil and criminal jurisdiction over Indian country. See Robert Laurence, Service of Process and Execution of Judgment on Indian Reservations, 10 Am. Ind. L.Rev. 257, 259 (1982).
¶ 23 Dixon v. Picopa Constr. Co. further supports the court of appeals’ conclusion that a state officer is without authority to serve process in Indian country. 160 Ariz. 251, 259-60, 772 P.2d 1104, 1112-13 (1989). Dixon treated Indian reservations as out-of-state for service of process purposes. Id. at 259, 772 P.2d at 1112. Again, the defendant was an Indian while Zaman is not, but in Dixon we explained our holding in Francisco with the following words: “We merely held that a state officer could not officially serve process on an Indian reservation just as that state officer could not officially serve process in California or New Mexico.” Id. at 260, 772 P.2d at 1113; see also 2 Charles Marshall Smith, Arizona Practice — Civil Trial Practice § 226 (Supp.1998) (“[L]ong-arm provisions for service of process apply to Indian reservations located within Arizona.”). Treating Indian reservations as out-of-state for service of process purposes “does not unreasonably infringe on Indian sovereignty any more than out-of-state, long-arm service unreasonably violates our sister states’ sovereignty.” Dixon, 160 Ariz. at 260, 772 P.2d at 1113.
¶ 24 The majority cites Langford v. Monteith as having long ago decided the issue. 102 U.S. 145, 147, 26 L.Ed. 53 (1880). Lang-ford, however, was decided when a defendant could only be served within a state’s territorial limits. See Pennoyer v. Neff, 95 U.S. 714, 24 L.Ed. 565 (1877). Those days are long gone, and thus the inquiry has changed. Today, when Arizona has in personam jurisdiction, it has the power to serve a defendant whether that defendant resides within or without the state. See Rules 4.1 and 4.2, Ariz.R.Civ.P. But this does not mean that it may send a sheriff to another sovereign’s territory to make personal service with process in hand and gun on hip. In any event, Langford is not dispositive for yet another reason. The treaty between the Nez Perce Indians and Idaho, which was relevant in Langford, did not contain a clause excluding the tribal lands from territorial or state jurisdiction. 102 U.S. at 147. Thus, the Court held that the Indian lands were “part of the Territory and subject to its jurisdiction, so that process may run there.” Id. Conversely, the Supreme Court said in McClanahan that the Navajo treaty granted the Navajos exclusive sovereignty over their lands. 411 U.S. at 174-75, 93 S.Ct. at 1263-64. Therefore, Langford may not be controlling. But we need not find out. The principles of comity urge that we respect the Navajo Nation’s laws when serving process on its residents.
B. Comity — respect for Navajo Nation
¶25 Arizona rules provide ample means for long-arm service without invading the territorial integrity of another sovereign. See Rule 4.2, Ariz.R.Civ.P.; see also Dixon, 160 Ariz. at 259, 772 P.2d at 1112 (“We ... hold that the ‘long-arm’ provisions of Rule 4 apply to Indian reservations located within Arizona.”). Process may be served by certified mail or by a person authorized under Navajo law. See Rule 4.2(b) & (c), Ariz.R.Civ.P. (“Service of process may be made outside the state ... by a person authorized to serve process under the law of the state where such service is made.”).2 The Navajo Rules of Civil Procedure allow service of process to be made by the following:
1. By Navajo police officers.
2. By persons appointed by the presiding judge of a Navajo court.
3. By private process servers registered with the Navajo Nation.
See Rule 4(c), Navajo Rules of Civil Procedure. Thus, the deputy sheriff who made *447service in this case could have asked for appointment to serve process within the territorial limits of the Navajo Nation. Process could also have been served by a tribal officer, a registered private process server, or by certified mail under Arizona’s long-arm statute. See id.; see also Rule 4.2, Ariz.R.Civ.P.
¶26 As the majority points out many times, Zaman is a non-Indian and the authorities cited deal with attempts to extend state jurisdiction over Indians. Obviously, the Indian / non-Indian distinction is critical for jurisdictional purposes as well as in other substantive areas of Indian law. The issue here, however, is not jurisdiction over this defendant — that was settled in Zaman I in which I concurred — but instead, whether we should recognize an Arizona sheriffs service of process in Indian territory. In that context, the critical factor is not the status of the person to be served, for I do not suggest Arizona may not exercise personal jurisdiction over this non-Indian defendant. I only suggest that it does not automatically follow that because the state has in personam jurisdiction over the defendant, it also has authority to send its officers into the reservation to personally serve the defendant. Recognition of state official personal service in Navajo territory does not turn only on the state’s relationship with the litigant or even its power, but also on its relationship with the Navajo Nation.
¶27 In the final analysis, therefore, we need not solve the question of whether principles of Indian sovereignty prohibit a state officer from intruding on Navajo land to make personal service. Even if I were to assume the majority is correct, good judgment and respect dictate an easier and better resolution. A state sheriffs service on an Indian in Indian land “generates needless friction with the tribes and is a poor policy.” Rennard Strickland et al., Felix S. Cohen’s Handbook of Federal Indian Law 361 (1982 ed.). Contrary to the majority’s assertion, this principle is equally applicable to service on non-Indians.3 Under the principles of comity, due respect for Navajo tribal integrity and sovereignty should require us to recognize the Navajo Nation’s laws, just as we would the laws of other jurisdictions. Our state officers would have no authority to serve process in Liechtenstein, Lithuania, or Luxembourg. Although the Navajo Nation is not a foreign country and is partly within the boundaries of our state,4 we should treat it with the same courtesy and respect.
¶ 28 The majority opinion addresses itself only to the question of the state’s power and lectures the dissenters for their supposed failure to appreciate that the prohibition of state official service on the reservation applies only to Indians. But the majority misses our primary point: even if Arizona had the power to send its sheriff on the reservation to personally serve Zaman, comity dictates that it may — and should — refrain from using that power. Instead, service should be made in accordance with Arizona law and Navajo law, thus showing respect for tribal sovereignty. That is the main point of this dissent and, with due deference, I believe it is the point that the majority should not ignore.
¶29 One hopes that the days are gone when the sheriffs posse could enter Navajo lands, disregarding the laws and customs of the Navajo people. Even if, as the majority contends, the constitution permits us this power, it does not require us to exercise it. As a matter of state law we could and should show our respect for Navajo sovereignty.
CONCURRING: THOMAS A. ZLAKET, Chief Justice.

. In Tracy v. Superior Court, we stated that "the principles of comity militate in favor of interpreting the word territory to include the Navajo Nation.” 168 Ariz. 23, 34, 810 P.2d 1030, 1041 (1991). The same is true here. The word "state” can and certainly should be interpreted to include the Navajo Nation, whose treaty with the United States gives it territorial sovereignty within the geographical boundaries of our state.

. If a state court has subject matter jurisdiction over a claim against an Indian, service in Indian country by either tribal police or a private server should be valid. "Official” service by a sheriff certainly violates the spirit of state service schemes, which confines such service to a state’s territorial authority. Such service also generates needless friction with the tribes and is a poor policy. But whether such service is actually preempted by the federal protection of tribal self-government is questionable. Strickland, supra at 361.

. The Navajo Nation encompasses portions of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah.