Shoshone Indian Tribe v. U.S.

• Decision Date: 07 April 2004
• Docket Number: No. 03-5036.,No. 03-5037.,03-5036.,03-5037.
• Citation: 364 F.3d 1339
• Parties: The SHOSHONE INDIAN TRIBE OF THE WIND RIVER RESERVATION, Plaintiff-Cross Appellant, and The Arapaho Indian Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Plaintiff-Cross Appellant, v. UNITED STATES, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Federal Circuit

364 F.3d 1339

The SHOSHONE INDIAN TRIBE OF THE WIND RIVER RESERVATION, Plaintiff-Cross Appellant, and The Arapaho Indian Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Plaintiff-Cross Appellant, v. UNITED STATES, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 03-5036.

No. 03-5037.

United States Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit.

DECIDED: April 7, 2004.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Steven D. Gordon, Holland & Knight LLP, of Washington, DC, argued for plaintiff-cross appellant The Shoshone Indian Tribe of the Wind River Reservation. With him on the brief were Lynn E. Calkins and Maria Whitehorn Votsch. Also on the brief was Richard M. Berley, Ziontz, Chestnut, Varnell, Berley & Slonim, of Seattle, WA, who argued for plaintiff-cross appellant The Arapaho Indian Tribe of the Wind River Reservation. With him on the brief was Brian W. Chestnut.

Robert H. Oakley, Attorney, Environment & Natural Resources Division, United States Department of Justice, of Washington, DC, argued for United States. With him on the brief were Thomas L. Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General; Jeffrey Bossert Clark, Deputy Assistant Attorney General; and Stuart Schoenburg, Attorney. Of counsel was Stephen L. Simpson, Attorney, Office of the Solicitor, United States Department of Interior, of Washington, DC.

Melody L. McCoy, Native American Rights Fund, of Boulder, CO, for amicus curiae Chippewa Cree Tribe of the Rocky Boy's Reservation. Also on the brief was Jeanne S. Whiteing, Whiteing & Smith, of Boulder, CO, for amicus curiae Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.

Before RADER, Circuit Judge, ARCHER, Senior Circuit Judge, and GAJARSA, Circuit Judge.

Opinion for the court filed by Circuit Judge GAJARSA. Opinion dissenting-in-part filed by Circuit Judge RADER.

GAJARSA, Circuit Judge.

The United States government appeals from the decision by the Court of Federal Claims permitting the Shoshone and Arapaho Indian Tribes of the Wind River Reservation (the "Tribes") to bring allegedly untimely claims relating to the Government's management of sand and gravel resources on the reservation. The Shoshone Indian Tribe of the Wind River Reservation v. United States, No. 458a-79L, 459a-79L (Fed.Cl. Oct. 10, 2002) (order providing for final judgment on the issues of the statute of limitations and applicable interest) (the "Shoshone Final Judgment Order"); see also The Shoshone Indian Tribe of the Wind River Reservation v. United States, 51 Fed.Cl. 60 (2001). In addition, the Tribes submit a cross-appeal, arguing that the Court of Federal Claims erred in denying the Tribes interest on money that the Government should have, but did not, collect from the sale and leasing of sand and gravel deposits. Shoshone Final Judgment Order, at 1; see also The Shoshone Indian Tribe of the Wind River Reservation v. United States, No. 458a-79L, 459a-79L (Fed. Cl. June 21, 2002) (order denying interest to Tribes) (the "Shoshone Interest Order").

Because the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, Public Law No. 108-7, permits the Tribes to bring their trust management claims after they receive an accounting — regardless of when such claims accrued — this court affirms the Court of Federal Claims' decision on direct appeal. We limit, however, the claims that may be brought to those relating to (1) the Government's mismanagement of tribal trust funds after their collection and (2) losses to the trust resulting from the Government's failure to timely collect amounts due and owing to the Tribes under its sand and gravel contracts.

With respect to the Tribes' cross-appeal, we reverse the Court of Federal Claims' denial of interest and hold that the Tribes are entitled to interest on monies that the Government was contractually obligated to collect, but did not collect or delayed in collecting, on behalf of the Tribes.

We thus affirm-in-part, reverse-in-part, and remand the case for further proceedings.

I. BACKGROUND

A. The Wind River Reservation

The Eastern Shoshone Tribe (the "Shoshone") and the Northern Arapaho Tribe (the "Arapaho") share an undivided interest in the Wind River Indian Reservation (the "Wind River Reservation" or the "reservation") in Wyoming. Shoshone Indian Tribe, 51 Fed.Cl. at 61. The Shoshone originally occupied approximately 44,672,000 acres across Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho, and Utah. In 1868, the Shoshone signed a treaty with the United States (the "Treaty of 1868") and agreed to relinquish their aboriginal lands and relocate onto a reservation established for their benefit. In this treaty, the Government agreed that the reservation would be:

set apart for the absolute and undisturbed use and occupation of the Shoshonee Indians herein named, ... and henceforth they will and do hereby relinquish all title, claims, or rights in and to any portion of the territory of the United States, except such as is embraced within the limits aforesaid.

Treaty between the United States and the Eastern Band of Shoshonees and the Bannack Tribe of Indians, July 3, 1868, art. II, 15 Stat. 673 (emphasis added). By signing the Treaty of 1868, the Shoshone relinquished to the Government title to their aboriginal lands and reserved a right of occupancy and use to the Wind River Reservation. Shoshone Tribe of Indians v. United States, 299 U.S. 476, 496, 57 S.Ct. 244, 81 L.Ed. 360 (1937); cf. United States v. Creek Nation, 295 U.S. 103, 109, 55 S.Ct. 681, 79 L.Ed. 1331 (1935) (discussing the right of occupancy as compared to a fee simple).

In 1878, the United States military escorted the Arapaho onto the Wind River Reservation, where the Arapaho were settled by the Government on the Wind River Reservation despite protests by the Shoshone. Shoshone, 299 U.S. at 494, 57 S.Ct. 244. Against their respective wishes, the Shoshone and Arapaho Tribes were made owners in common of the Wind River Reservation, with undivided rights to the land and its accompanying mineral resources, by Congressional act. Act of Mar. 3, 1927, §§ 1, 3, 44 Stat. 1349, 1350; Shoshone, 299 U.S. at 494, 57 S.Ct. 244. Both Tribes continue to occupy the Wind River Reservation, which consists primarily of the reservation lands created by the Treaty of 1868, minus certain lands sold to the United States in 1872 and 1896.

In addition to establishing co-ownership of the Wind River Reservation, the Act of March 3, 1927 also permitted the Shoshone to bring claims against the Government in the Court of Claims arising from the settlement of the Arapaho. Until the passage of the Indian Claims Commission Act in 1946 (the "ICC Act"), tribes could not litigate claims against the United States without specific Congressional permission. Act of Mar. 3, 1927, §§ 1, 3, 44 Stat. 1349, 1350; Shoshone, 299 U.S. at 494, 57 S.Ct. 244; see also Navajo Tribe of Indians v. State of New Mexico, 809 F.2d 1455, 1460 (10th Cir.1987) (discussing the history of the ICC Act). After receiving access to the Court of Claims, the Shoshone filed suit and were eventually awarded damages for the taking of the Shoshone's right of occupancy under the Treaty of 1868. Shoshone, 299 U.S. at 497-98, 57 S.Ct. 244.

On October 10, 1979, the Tribes brought suit in the United States Court of Claims, alleging that the Government breached fiduciary and statutory duties owed to the Tribes from August 14, 1946 onward by mismanaging the reservation's natural resources and the income derived from such resources. The date of August 14, 1946 chosen by the Tribes coincides with the passage of the ICC Act. The ICC Act provided a five-year window of time during which tribes could submit to the Indian Claims Commission all of their claims against the Government that accrued before August 13, 1946. Courts have therefore held that claims "accruing before August 13, 1946" that were not filed with the Commission by August 13, 1951 cannot be submitted to any court, administrative agency, or the Congress. 60 Stat. 1052 (formerly 25 U.S.C. § 70k); Navajo Tribe, 809 F.2d at 1461; Catawba Indian Tribe of S.C. v. United States, 24 Cl.Ct. 24, 29 (1991).

The Court of Federal Claims severed the Tribes' present action into four segments: (1) claims relating to mineral rights, including sand and gravel resources; (2) claims relating to royalties associated with oil and gas deposits; (3) all other claims relating to oil and gas extraction; and (4) claims relating to trust fund mismanagement. Shoshone Indian Tribe, 51 Fed.Cl. at 62.

B. Sand and Gravel Litigation

The current appeal stems from the first segment of litigation and involves the alleged mismanagement of sand and gravel resources by the Government. The sand and gravel claims of the Tribes were severed from the rest of the claims by order of the Court of Federal Claims. The Shoshone Indian Tribe of the Wind River Reservation v. United States, No. 458a-79-459a-79L (Fed. Cl. June 13, 2001) (order severing claims).¹

In its pre-trial motions related to the sand and gravel claims, the Government moved the Court of Federal Claims to bar any claim by the Tribes that accrued prior to October 10, 1973, the date that corresponds to six years before the Tribes' complaint was filed. Shoshone Indian Tribe, 51 Fed.Cl. at 61. The Government argued that 28 U.S.C. § 2501, which imposes a six-year statute of limitations on claims brought against the United States, should apply to limit the Tribes' ability to recover for alleged injuries occurring between 1946 and 1973. Id. at 61-62.

In response, the Tribes cited the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, Public Law No. 108-7 (the "Act"), which provides in pertinent part:

[N]otwithstanding any other provision of law, the statute of limitations shall not commence to run on any claim, including any claim in litigation pending on the date of the enactment of this Act, concerning losses to or mismanagement of trust funds, until the affected tribe or individual Indian has been furnished with an accounting of such funds from which the...