Hopland Band of Pomo Indians v. U.S.

• Decision Date: 30 August 1988
• Docket Number: No. 88-1085,88-1085
• Parties: HOPLAND BAND OF POMO INDIANS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. The UNITED STATES, Defendant-Appellee. Appeal
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Federal Circuit

Page 1573

855 F.2d 1573

HOPLAND BAND OF POMO INDIANS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. The UNITED STATES, Defendant-Appellee.

Appeal No. 88-1085.

United States Court of Appeals Federal Circuit.

Aug. 30, 1988.

David J. Rapport, California Indian Legal Services, Ukiah, Cal., argued for plaintiff-appellant.

M. Alice Thurston, Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., argued for defendant-appellee. With her on the brief were Roger J. Marzulla, Acting Asst. Atty. Gen., Martin W. Matzen and Glen R. Goodsell.

Before MARKEY, Chief Judge, RICH and MICHEL, Circuit Judges.

MICHEL, Circuit Judge.

The Hopland Band of Pomo Indians (Band) appeals the judgment of the United States Claims Court in Hopland Band of Pomo Indians v. United States, 13 Cl.Ct. 276 (1987), dismissing all of the counts of the Band's complaint as being either barred by res judicata, claims upon which the Band did not have standing to sue, or claims upon which relief could not be granted. The Claims Court also held that the complaint was not brought within the applicable statute of limitations, 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2501 (1982). We conclude that each of the three counts of the Band's complaint is barred by section 2501. Since compliance with section 2501 is a prerequisite to the Claims Court's jurisdiction, we vacate the decision of the Claims Court addressing the merits and remand with instructions to dismiss the Band's complaint for lack of jurisdiction.

BACKGROUND

The Hopland Rancheria, located in Mendocino County, California, was one of a number of small Indian communities (rancherias) in California, the land of which was held in trust by the United States for the resident Indians. However, in accordance with procedures set forth by Congress in the California Rancheria Act, Pub.L. No. 85-671, 72 Stat. 619 (1958) (as amended by Pub.L. No. 88-419, 78 Stat. 390 (1964)) (the Act), the trust relationship between the government and the resident Indians on various rancherias, including the Hopland Rancheria, was to be terminated and the trust property or proceeds from the sale of such property distributed to eligible individualIndians. See generally Duncan v. United States, 667 F.2d 36, 38-40, 229 Ct.Cl. 120 (1981), cert. denied, 463 U.S. 1228, 103 S.Ct. 3569, 77 L.Ed.2d 1410 (1983); Smith v. United States, 515 F.Supp. 56, 57-58 (N.D.Cal.1978). Under sections 1 and 2 of the Act, termination of an individual rancheria and distribution of its assets were to be carried out in accordance with a termination plan prepared by the Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) and approved by a majority of the adult Indians affected by the plan.

The Secretary approved a termination plan for the Hopland Rancheria on May 22, 1961, and a majority of the voting Indians of the Hopland Rancheria approved the plan on June 18, 1961. In accordance with section 10(b) of the Act, when the distribution of the rancheria's assets was completed, the Band's formal status as a Tribe was to be terminated, thereby ending the eligibility of its members for services and benefits provided by the government to such persons because of their status as Indians. However, in accordance with section 3 of the Act, no actual distribution of assets or proceeds to the individual distributees was to take place until the government reached agreement with the Indians of the Band on improvements to the water supply, sanitation, and irrigation facilities of the rancheria. While no agreement regarding such improvements was reached, the actual distribution of deeds to the assigned rancheria properties and of proceeds from the sale of other rancheria assets ¹ nevertheless occurred and was completed by July 1967. At that time, the Band's status as a Tribe was formally terminated by the United States. Furthermore, following termination of the trust relationship, the distributed land became subject to state and federal laws and taxes.

In May 1974, Ellerick Smith, an individual distributee of the Hopland Rancheria, brought suit against the United States for injunctive and declaratory relief, alleging, inter alia, that the rancheria had been unlawfully terminated. Shortly thereafter, the government apparently realized that the termination of the Hopland Rancheria violated the Act due to the government's failure to reach any agreements regarding the necessary water and sanitation improvements prior to the distribution of the trust properties. In September 1974, the government acknowledged the continuing existence of its trust relationship with the Hopland Band in letters to each member of the Band.

Subsequently, in March 1978, on the basis of representations by the government to the district court in the suit brought by Mr. Smith, the court concluded that the purported termination of the Hopland Rancheria was unlawful, that the rancheria had not been terminated, and that the trust relationship of the United States toward the Indian people of the rancheria remained in existence. Smith, 515 F.Supp. at 59-60. The court further concluded that the Indian distributees of Hopland Rancheria lands were to be allowed to reconvey their land to the United States, provided that such land had not been conveyed to good-faith, non-Indian purchasers, and that any land reconveyed would be exempt from state and local taxation until the rancheria was legally terminated. ² Id. at 61. Following that initial determination, the district court allowed a class representing Indian distributees and their heirs to intervene in the action on August 13, 1979. After a series of proceedings before a magistrate, the parties to that action stipulated a final judgment which was ordered entered by the district court on March 18, 1986.

During the course of the Smith litigation, in April 1980, the Bureau of Indian Affairs published a notice in the Federal Register which acknowledged its formal government-to-government relationship with the Band. 45 Fed.Reg. 27,820 (1980). According to the Band's complaint here, however, it was not until August 20, 1981, that the Indians of the Hopland Rancheria voted to adopt a constitution, which was necessary to create a governing body and authorize tribal officials to act on behalf of the Band. The Band itself was not a member of the certified class in the Smith case, although the Band did make a belated attempt to intervene, filing a notice of motion to intervene on April 7, 1986, which was denied.

The Band filed the present 3-count complaint in its own behalf in the Claims Court on September 3, 1986, seeking damages against the government for the premature and unlawful conveyance of the rancheria property held in trust for the Band by the government and for the denial of statutory benefits on the basis of the unlawful termination of the Band's tribal status. Specifically, Count I sought damages for breach of trust sufficient to allow replacement of Parcel 1 at current market prices. Count II sought the same damages on a different theory, alleging that by selling Parcel 1, a community asset, and dividing the proceeds only among the distributees, the government breached its duty to manage the trust for the benefit of all the trust beneficiaries, which included persons not classified as distributees. Count III alleged that the United States failed to provide benefits and services available to federally recognized Indian Tribes because of the government's unlawful termination of the rancheria and the Band's federal status. According to the complaint, since the Band retained its eligibility for such benefits and services until a lawful termination of the Hopland Rancheria could be accomplished, Count III sought damages to compensate for the full value of the lost benefits and services.

The Claims Court dismissed the Band's complaint, 13 Cl.Ct. 276, and this appeal followed.

OPINION

I.

As an initial matter, we observe that "Indian tribes are unique aggregations possessing attributes of sovereignty over both their members and their territory." United States v. Mazurie, 419 U.S. 544, 557, 95 S.Ct. 710, 717, 42 L.Ed.2d 706 (1975) (citation omitted). Therefore, in proper circumstances, Indian tribes can be viewed as specific governmental and legal entities distinct from their members. See, e.g., Moe v. Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, 425 U.S. 463, 468 n. 7, 96 S.Ct. 1634, 1639 n. 7, 48 L.Ed.2d 96 (1976). Thus, we assume for the purposes of this appeal that the Band, as a separate entity apart from its individual members, can pursue on its own behalf certain legal actions distinct and separate from similar or related claims of its members. Cf. Fields v. United States, 423 F.2d 380, 383, 191 Ct.Cl. 191 (1970) (distinguishing between claims brought by a tribe, band, or group of Indians and claims brought by individual Indians); Table Bluff Band of Indians v. Andrus, 532 F.Supp. 255, 260 n. 10 (N.D.Cal.1981). Nevertheless, statutes of limitations are to be applied against the claims of Indian tribes in the same manner as against any other litigant seeking legal redress or relief from the government. See United States v. Mottaz, 476 U.S. 834, 106 S.Ct. 2224, 90 L.Ed.2d 841 (1986); Capoeman v. United States, 440 F.2d 1002, 1007-08, 194 Ct.Cl. 664 (1971).

The parties here agree that the present action is governed by the statute of limitations set forth in 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2501 (1982), which provides that "[e]very claim of which the United States Claims Court has jurisdiction shall be barred unless the petition thereon is filed within six years after such claim first accrues." The 6-year statute of limitations on actions against the United States is a jurisdictional requirement attached by Congress as a condition of the government's waiver of sovereign immunity and, as such, must be strictly construed. See Spannaus v. Department of Justice, 824 F.2d 52, 55 (D.C.Cir.1987) (discussing 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2401(a)); Jones v. United States, 801 F.2d 1334, 1335 (Fed.Cir.1986) (the statute of limitations set forth in section 2501 is...