Barona Group of Capitan Grande Band of Mission Indians v. American Management & Amusement, Inc.
| Decision Date | 07 August 1987 |
| Docket Number | No. 86-6605,86-6605 |
| Citation | 824 F.2d 710 |
| Parties | BARONA GROUP OF the CAPITAN GRANDE BAND OF MISSION INDIANS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. AMERICAN MANAGEMENT & AMUSEMENT, INC., Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
Art Bunce, Escondido, Cal., for plaintiff-appellee.
Monty A. McIntyre, San Diego, Cal., for defendant-appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of California.
Before ALARCON and O'SCANNLAIN, Circuit Judges, and BROOMFIELD, * District Judge.
Defendant-appellant American Management & Amusement, Inc. (AMA) appeals the order granting summary judgment in favor of plaintiff-appellee Barona Group of the Capitan Grande Band of Mission Indians (Band) in this declaratory relief action involving a tribal bingo management agreement. AMA entered into an agreement with the Band to finance, construct and operate a bingo facility on the Band's reservation. The Band filed a complaint in district court to have the agreement declared null and void under 25 U.S.C. Sec. 81 (1982) because it did not have the approval of the Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). The district court granted the Band's motion for summary judgment and ruled the agreement was null and void under section 81.
AMA contends (1) the district court lacked jurisdiction to hear the motion for summary judgment because (a) the bankruptcy court's automatic stay was in effect at the time, and (b) the district court did not formally withdraw its reference of the case under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 157(d) (Supp. III 1985) from the bankruptcy court, (2) the district court abused its discretion in not granting it a six-month continuance to conduct further discovery, (3) there are triable issues of material fact, (4) the 1983 tribal bingo valid management agreement is valid under 25 U.S.C. Sec. 81, (5) the district court failed to defer to the October 6, 1981 correspondence from the BIA as to the validity of the agreement, (6) its rights to just compensation and due process under the fifth and fourteenth amendments', and equal protection under the fourteenth amendment were violated, (7) it is entitled to the defense of laches, and (8) the district court did not permit it a reasonable period of time to obtain BIA approval of the 1983 agreement. We disagree and affirm.
On April 20, 1981, the Band and AMA entered into a tribal bingo management agreement (1981 agreement). The 1981 agreement required AMA to finance, construct and operate a bingo facility for 25 In September 1981, AMA submitted the 1981 agreement to the BIA for approval as required by 25 U.S.C. Sec. 81. Section 81 provides in pertinent part:
years on the Band's reservation in San Diego County, California. Under the agreement, AMA would receive 45% of the net profits and the Band 55%. AMA invested $3.6 million for the construction and operation of the bingo facility.
No agreement shall be made by any person with any tribe of Indians ... for the payment or delivery of any money or other thing of value ... in consideration of services for said Indians relative to their lands ... unless such contract or agreement be executed and approved as follows:....
[I]t shall bear the approval of the Secretary of the Interior and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs indorsed upon it.... [p] All contracts or agreements made in violation of this section shall be null and void....
(Emphasis added). On October 6, 1981, the Acting Superintendent of the Southern California BIA office notified AMA that the 1981 agreement did not require its approval. The BIA official explained:
Your enclosed agreement has been read carefully and we find, inasmuch as trust lands and funds are not involved, that the document does not require the approval or consent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
We have conferred with the Field Solicitor's Office, Riverside and they concur with the above statement....
This letter is limited only to the question of the need of Bureau approval of the Barona Group Bingo Agreement.
On April 15, 1983, AMA began operating bingo games pursuant to the 1981 agreement. On May 11, 1983, AMA and the Band entered into a new tribal bingo management agreement (1983 agreement). The 1983 agreement was similar to the 1981 agreement. The 1983 agreement provided that when it was executed, "it will take the place of, substitute for, replace, supersede, and cancel" the 1981 agreement. The 1983 agreement was not submitted to the BIA for approval.
In April 1986, the bingo operation and facility were shut down. On May 19, 1986, the Band filed a complaint against AMA for declaratory relief, breach of contract, and damages. The Band sought to have the 1983 contract declared null and void under 25 U.S.C. Sec. 81 because it was not approved by the BIA.
On June 10, 1986, AMA filed a counterclaim against the Band and its counsel for (1) breach of the 1983 agreement, (2) quantum meruit for the value of its $3.6 million investment in the bingo operation and facility, (3) breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, (4) fraud, (5) intentional interference with prospective economic advantage, (6) negligent misrepresentation, (7) negligence, and (8) indemnity.
On June 24, 1986, AMA filed a Chapter 11 proceeding in bankruptcy court which automatically stayed the proceedings in the district court under 11 U.S.C. Sec. 362(a) (1982 & Supp. III 1985). On July 31, 1986, the Band filed a motion in the bankruptcy court for relief from the stay. On September 15, 1986, the bankruptcy court notified the parties that it would grant partial relief from the stay so that the issue of the validity of the 1983 contract under section 81 could be litigated.
On September 19, 1986, the Band filed a motion for summary judgment claiming the 1983 contract was null and void under 25 U.S.C. Sec. 81. On October 17, 1986, the district court granted the Band's motion.
The order granting summary judgment did not dispose of all of the issues, but the district court certified its order and judgment for appeal under Fed.R.Civ.P.Rule 54(b). Thus, this court has jurisdiction of this appeal. 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1291 (1982).
AMA contends the district court "had no power to consider and determine the motion for summary judgment at the time it did" because "no order granting relief from stay had yet been entered in the bankruptcy action." We disagree.
On June 24, 1986, the proceedings in the district court were automatically stayed under 11 U.S.C. Sec. 362(a) when AMA filed a Chapter 11 petition for bankruptcy. On August 4, 1986 the Band filed a motion for relief from the automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. Sec. 362(d)(1) in the bankruptcy court to proceed against AMA. On September 15, 1986, the bankruptcy court notified both parties that it was granting partial relief from the stay:
The Tribe should have relief from the stay for a limited purpose of obtaining a determination from the District Court with respect only to the declaration regarding the validity of the 1983 contract.... [p] Counsel for the Tribe is directed to prepare an order in accordance with this letter opinion within ten days from the date hereof.
(Emphasis in original).
On September 22, 1986, the Band filed a motion for summary judgment in the district court. On October 17, 1986, the district court orally granted the Band's motion. On November 7, 1986, the bankruptcy court's order granting the Band relief from the automatic stay was filed. On November 10, 1986, the district court entered judgment as to the first claim for declaratory relief as to the validity of the 1983 agreement.
The district court did not enter judgment as to the claim for declaratory relief until after the bankruptcy court entered its order granting the Band partial relief from the automatic stay. Thus, the district court had jurisdiction to enter judgment granting the Band's motion for summary judgment.
AMA next contends the district court did not have jurisdiction to rule on the Band's summary judgment motion because it did not formally withdraw its reference of the case under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 157(d) (Supp. III 1985) to the bankruptcy court. We disagree. 28 U.S.C. Sec. 157(d) provides:
The district court may withdraw, in whole or in part, any case or proceeding referred under this section [to the bankruptcy court], on its own motion or on timely motion of any party, for cause shown. The district court shall, on timely motion of a party, so withdraw a proceeding if the court determines that resolution of the proceeding requires consideration of both title 11 and other laws of the United States regulating organizations or activities affecting interstate commerce.
On June 22, 1987, the district court partially withdrew the reference of this case under Chapter 11 nunc pro tunc to September 15, 1986, to determine the issue of the validity of the tribal bingo management agreement. The district court stated:
[T]he Court finds that good cause exists in this case for this Court to withdraw its reference of this bankruptcy case from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California, but only to the extent of permitting this Court to hear and determine the issue of the validity of the management agreement of May 11, 1983 between the parties under 25 U.S.C. Sec. 81, and to do so nunc pro tunc to September 15, 1986.
Thus, AMA's claim necessarily fails. AMA similarly claims the summary judgment motion was not timely filed under the local district court rules of court because the bankruptcy court had not filed its order granting the Band relief from the stay at the time the motion was filed. This claim is merely a restatement...
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