Court Opinion

ID: 9363984
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-01-17 22:17:43.978476+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:15:35.233190
License: Public Domain

01/17/2023
                                       ar   Nee II   ...I .   4114 4111111

           IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA
                                                                                                  Case Number: DA 22-0615

                                       DA 22-0615

LORI MONROE and REBECCA
ROSENBERGER.
                                                                               FILED
            Petitioners,
                                                                               JAN 1 7 2023
                                                                             B:_)vven   et-,:riwoOd
      v.                                                                            Sk.prerne Court
                                                                              SLate of Montana

TRA BOGGS,

           Respondent and Appellant.

TRA BOGGS, on behalf of himself and his                                      ORDER
minor children, C.D.B. and T.J.B.,

            Counterclaimant,

      v.

LORI MONROE. REBECCA ROSENBERGER
and DAVID GORDON,

            Counterclaim Defendants
            and Appellees.

      Appellees Lori Monroe and Rebecca Rosenberger move to dismiss this appeal on the
ground that this Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction. Appellant Tra Boggs opposes the
motion.
      The case arises from a child custody proceeding in Blackfeet Tribal Court. Boggs is
the father of two minor children whose mother was killed in an automobile accident.
Monroe and Rosenberger are the children's maternal aunt and grandmother, respectively.
All parties are enrolled members of the Blackfeet Tribe. Monroe and Rosenberger reside
within the exterior boundaries of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation; Boggs resides in Cut
Bank. Monroe and Rosenberger obtained an order in Tribal Court granting them custody of
the two minor children. They petitioned the Ninth Judicial District Court in July 2022 to
register the Tribal Court's order as a foreign judgment. The District Court denied that
petition, and its order has not been appealed. Boggs's response to the petition included
counterclaims for abuse of process against Monroe and Rosenberger and for deceit against
their attorney David Gordon. On October 7, 2022, the District Court dismissed Boggs's
counterclaims, concluding that it did not have subject matter jurisdiction over torts that
occurred entirely on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. Boggs appeals that order.
      Monroe and Rosenberger seek dismissal of Boggs's appeal on the ground that this
Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction. They assert that entertaining the appeal would
infringe on Black feet tribal self-government. Monroe and Rosenberger request this Court to
"affirm the District Court's order and dismiss the appeal." Boggs responds that the abuse of
process claims pertain to Appellees' conduct that occurred off the reservation and that the
deceit claims rest upon Appellees' private conduct and are not directed at the sovereignty of
the Blackfeet Tribal Court to make decisions or operate.
       The issue on appeal is whether the District Court erroneously concluded that it lacked
subject matter jurisdiction to entertain Boggs's counterclaims. This Court cannot either
affirm that order or dismiss the appeal without considering the merits of the issue.
Accordingly, we reserve judgment on the question of subject matter jurisdiction pending full
briefing on the issue Boggs's appeal raises.
      IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that the motion to dismiss the appeal is DENIED.
Briefing shall proceed in accordance with the Montana Rules of Appellate Procedure.
      The Clerk is directed to notify all counsel of the entry of this Order.
      DATED this / 1 44kday of January, 2023.

                                                               Chief Justice
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   Justices