trust relationship – Page 48

Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Members Sue over Lake Oahe Dam Taking

October 29, 2012October 29, 2012Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

Here is the complaint in LeBeau v. United States (D. S.D.):

Excerpts:

Plaintiffs Casimir L. LeBeau, Clarence Mortenson, Raymond Charles Handboy, Sr., and Freddie Lebeau (collectively “Plaintiffs”), on behalf of themselves and the putative classes set forth below, bring this Complaint against the United States of America (“Defendant”), and bring this claim based upon an unlawful taking without just compensation of thousands of acres of land owned by Plaintiffs and other individuals. Plaintiffs seek declaratory relief ordering Defendant to perform its fiduciary duties as trustee of the individual Plaintiffs’ trust monies pursuant to federal law and common law trust principles, including an accounting of the monies owed to Plaintiffs and the putative classes.

***

1. Nearly seventy years ago, Congress enacted a law authorizing the Army Corps of Engineers to develop a number of water control projects. Among these projects was the Pick Sloan Missouri River Basin Project (the “Pick-Sloan Project”), which involved the construction of six hydroelectric dams in the upper Missouri river basin. One of these dams, the Oahe Dam, impounds Lake Oahe, an artificial reservoir stretching almost the entire distance from Pierre, South Dakota, to Bismarck, North Dakota.

2. In building the Oahe Dam and creating Lake Oahe, the United States flooded a vast area of North and South Dakota, including over 104,420 acres of land, some of which was owned by the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe (the “Tribe”) and some of which was owned in allotments or in fee by individual members of the Tribe (the “Individual Landowners”). The Individual Landowners were required to evacuate their homes and abandon their land and its valuable resources to make way for an energy project benefiting only those downriver.

3. The Oahe Dam destroyed more Indian land than any other United States public works project. Over 180 families – 30% of the tribal population – were forced to leave their homes and sever the profound cultural connection that they had to the land.

Supreme Court Partially Vacates and Reverses Judgment Favoring Samish Indian Nation

October 9, 2012October 9, 2012Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here is today’s order list. From the order:

The petition for a writ of certiorari is granted. The judgment with respect to all matters relating to respondent’s Revenue Sharing Act claim is vacated, and the case is remanded to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit with instructions to dismiss that claim as moot. See United States v. Munsingwear, Inc., 340 U.S. 36 (1950).

Lower court materials here.

Marceau v. Blackfeet Housing Authority Cert Petition

September 10, 2012Matthew L.M. Fletcher3 Comments

Here:

Marceau Cert Petition

Questions presented:

1) Whether the Ninth Circuit misconstrued and misunderstood requirements for finding a Federal Trust Responsibility to Indians. Is the pervasive role of the federal government based on the administration of the law as well as the letter of the law?

2) Is there a conflict in the Circuits on this issue? Compare Brown v. United States, 86 F.3d 1554, 1560-61 (Fed. Cir. 1996) and other cases in the Federal Circuit with the decision of the Ninth Circuit in this case below (Marceau III, 540 F.3d 916, 928 (9th Cir. 2008).

3) Is there a special burden on the federal government as it relates to Indian Housing in view of the Congressional Acts on Housing, the disadvantage to Indians caused by the Indian Allotment Act which prohibits Indians from holding title to their land, and the Indian Trust Responsibility of the federal government?

4) Was the Ninth Circuit wrong in summarily dismissing Plaintiffs’ APA claim as time barred when the true state of affairs was not discovered until well within the statute of limitations? Was the Ninth Circuit wrong in not considering the federal Indian Trust Responsibility in connection with this decision?

5) Was the Ninth Circuit wrong in holding that HUD had no duty to act on a specific request of the Housing Authority and the Blackfeet Tribe to “fix it?” Was the Ninth Circuit wrong in not considering the federal Indian Trust Responsibility in connection with this decision.

Lower court materials here.

The Supreme Court denied cert in an earlier stage of this litigation here.