U.S. v. City of Tacoma, Wash.
| Decision Date | 04 June 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. 00-35070.,00-35070. |
| Citation | 332 F.3d 574 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. CITY OF TACOMA, WASHINGTON, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
Kenneth G. Kieffer and Timothy L. Ashcraft, Gordon, Thomas, Honeywell, Malanca, Peterson & Daheim, PLLC, Tacoma, WA, for the appellant.
John H. Stahr, Appellate Section, Environment and Natural Resources Division, Department of Justice, WA, D.C., for the appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington; Franklin D. Burgess, District Judge. Presiding, D.C. No. CV-96-5499 FDB.
Before: FERGUSON, KLEINFELD, and GOULD, Circuit Judges.
Opinion by Judge GOULD; Dissent by Judge FERGUSON.
The United States brought this action, on behalf of itself and as trustee for the Skokomish Indian Tribe (the "Tribe") and its members, asking for declaratory judgment to invalidate the 1921 condemnation proceedings brought by the City of Tacoma ("Tacoma") and seeking to void land transfers made by the Tribe long thought by Tacoma to be settled. After cross motions for summary judgment, the District Court granted the United States' motion, invalidating the condemnation proceedings. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we affirm.
In 1920, Tacoma began plans to develop the Cushman hydroelectric power project on the North Fork of the Skokomish River.1 To that end, Tacoma instituted condemnation proceedings in state court, entitled Tacoma v. Funk, No. 1615 (Wash.Super.Ct.), against private landowners with property in the area of the proposed project. The landowners included five tribal members who held allotted lands.2 Three allotments were held in fee by the tribal members with a reversionary interest in the United States. Two were held in trust by the United States for tribal members' benefit. The United States was not a party in Funk.
On November 20, 1920, a bench trial was held on whether construction of the project was a public use. About a year later, the state court held that the project was a public use and that the condemnations were appropriate and necessary for the project. The state court ordered Tacoma to pay $1,411.61 in damages for portions of two allotments and perpetual easements across three. The court entered a conditional judgment on this order, subject to the United States government's approval, through its "proper authorities."
Thereafter, Percy P. Brush, Assistant City Attorney, contacted William B. Sams, Superintendent of the Taholah Indian School, about the condemnation. By letter of October 31, 1921, Brush told Sams of the proceedings and said that the clerk of the court in Shelton, Washington held the amounts required by the judgment, subject to the federal government's approval. Brush asked Sams to "take this matter up with the proper authorities and take such steps as are necessary towards protecting the government."
Sams responded, by letter of November 14, 1921, that the allotments "are each and all trust patented allotments, the title to the land remaining in the Government of the United States, and such lands are not subject to condemnation proceedings." On that day Sams also wrote the Commissioner of Indian Affairs at the Department of the Interior: "I have notified the Assistant Attorney of the City of Tacoma that condemnation proceedings against these trust patented lands will not lie; that the title yet remains in the Government of the United States and that their only method of securing the fee title to such lands is pursuant to the Act of June 25, 1910."
By letter of December 16, 1921, E.B. Meritt, Assistant Commissioner of Indian Affairs at the Department of the Interior, instructed Sams that condemnation of allotted lands for public purposes was authorized by Section 3 of the Act of March 3, 1901, 31 Stat. 1083-84 (codified at 25 U.S.C. § 357). By letter of May 12, 1922, W.W. Mount, Assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of Washington, similarly advised Sams: "In view of [25 U.S.C. § 357,] I am inclined to believe that the procedure as adopted by the City in this condemnation suit is in all respects legal." Sams passed along Mount's letter to Meritt and said that the appraisement of the lands was "fully sufficient and fair and just to all concerned."
By letter of June 7, 1922, Meritt responded to Sams, approving the state court's conditional judgment and directing Sams to "present the original of this letter to the clerk of the court at Shelton, Washington, with request that the amount of the awards be turned over to you to be handled for the benefit of the Indians entitled." The letter was approved and signed by F.M. Goodwin, Assistant Secretary of the Department of the Interior. In July 1922, Sams complied with these directions, gave the letter to the clerk of the court, and asked that the funds be given to him for distribution.
The parties also point to several events that occurred between the 1921 Funk decision and the institution of this action in 1996.
In 1924, the Federal Power Commission ("FPC"), the predecessor of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC"), issued a 50-year "minor part" license, authorizing Tacoma to flood 8.8 acres of United States Forest Service land. City of Tacoma, 87 FERC ¶ 61,197 at 61,732 n. 10, 1999 WL 323705 (1999). The FPC by order said that "the license will not interfere or be inconsistent with the purpose for which any reservation affected thereby was created or acquired."3 Id. After 1974, the FERC issued an order extending the same right by granting Tacoma annual licenses for the next 24 years. In 1998, after this action started, the FERC issued an order granting Tacoma a 40-year license to continue operating the Cushman project. City of Tacoma, 84 FERC ¶ 61,107, 1998 WL 608611 (1998); see City of Tacoma, 86 FERC ¶ 61,311, 1999 WL 177637 (1999). The order recognized Tacoma's property interests in the five allotments, but acknowledged that this litigation would materially affect whether the lands were considered "reservations."4 84 FERC ¶ 61,107 at 61,547 & n. 55, 1998 WL 608611. In March 1999, the FERC issued an order on rehearing, finding that the five allotments fell within the FPA's definition of "reservations" based on the District Court's grant of summary judgment. 86 FERC ¶ 61,311, 1999 WL 177637 at 62,075.
In an action against the State of Washington, Tacoma, and several corporations and individuals, the Tribe sought to quiet title on tidelands next to the reservation by the Hood Canal. See Skokomish Indian Tribe v. France, 320 F.2d 205, 206 (9th Cir.1963). The United States was not a party to the action.
The district court held that the Tribe's challenges to the FPC license were barred by laches and equitable estoppel. It held also that the action was a collateral attack barred by res judicata, that the issues should have been raised by the Tribe or the United States in the FPC hearings. We affirmed, holding that there was no clear error in the findings on which the District Court based its conclusions that the tidelands were not part of the reservation.
In March 1977, the Skokomish Tribal Council passed a resolution on the Funk proceedings, to the effect that the state court lacked jurisdiction to condemn the property and that neither the United States nor the Tribe was a party in the action, as was required. The resolution asked the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to "undertake litigation and all other steps necessary to set aside or otherwise secure relief from the illegal condemnations."
On May 1, 1996, the United States filed this federal court action, seeking for the Tribe a declaratory judgment that would invalidate the condemnation proceedings, and seeking damages for trespass. The district court bifurcated trial of liability and remedy. Cross motions for summary judgment on liability followed.
On November 20, 1998, the district court granted summary judgment to the United States and denied Tacoma's cross motion for summary judgment. The district court held that the United States had standing, that it was not equitably estopped, and that the condemnation proceedings were void because brought in state court and the United States was not a party.
After gaining summary judgment on liability, the United States declined to seek damages for trespass. On September 27, 1999, the United States filed a motion for entry of final judgment and to terminate discovery. Tacoma opposed, contending that discovery was needed to identify all parties bound by the judgment. The district court granted the motion and entered final judgment on December 14, 1999. Tacoma timely appealed on January 13, 2000.
We review the grant of summary judgment de novo. Delta Sav. Bank v. United States, 265 F.3d 1017, 1021 (9th Cir.2001) (citations omitted). We determine, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, whether there are any genuine issues of material fact and whether the district court correctly applied substantive law. Id. (citation omitted).
Tacoma contends: (1) that the United States lacks standing to bring this action and (2) that, notwithstanding the contentions of the United States and the Tribe, the Funk proceedings or the actions of the United States effectively conveyed property interests in the five allotments. We hold that the United States has standing to pursue this action, and that the United States did not convey its interest in the five allotments.
Standing requires: (1) that the plaintiff suffered an injury in fact; (2) that there is "a causal connection between the injury and the conduct complained of"; and (3) that there is a...
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