Bay Mills Indian Cmty. v. Snyder
| Decision Date | 28 September 2018 |
| Docket Number | No. 1:11-cv-729,1:11-cv-729 |
| Citation | 372 F.Supp.3d 570 |
| Parties | BAY MILLS INDIAN COMMUNITY, Plaintiff, v. Rick SNYDER, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Michigan |
Chad P. DePetro, Kathryn L. Tierney, Bay Mills Indian Community, Brimley, MI, James K. Nichols, Vernle (Skip) Durocher, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, Minneapolis, MN, for Plaintiff.
Kelly Marie Drake, Margaret Bettenhausen, Jaclyn Shoshana Levine, MI Department Attorney General, Lansing, MI, for Defendant.
This lawsuit considers the nature of the title to a single parcel of land held by the Bay Mills Indian Community. In August 2010, Bay Mills Indian Community (Bay Mills) purchased a small parcel of land which has come to be called the "Vanderbilt Parcel." Bay Mills claims to have bought the property using funds from a Land Trust established by the Michigan Indian Land Claim Settlement Act, which provides that property purchased with the funds are "held as Indian lands are held." Subsequently, Bay Mills filed this lawsuit seeking a declaration that the State of Michigan lacks authority over the parcel of land and that the laws of the Bay Mills Indian Community apply to the parcel. The Court concludes that Bay Mills did not acquire this property subject to federal restrictions on alienation. Accordingly, the property is subject to Michigan's authority, Bay Mills cannot obtain the relief it seeks in the lawsuit, and Defendant Snyder is entitled to summary judgment.
Bay Mills filed an amended complaint, which is the controlling pleading in this lawsuit. (ECF No. 25.) Currently pending is Defendant Snyder's motion for summary judgment. (ECF No. 53.) The Court held a hearing on the motion. Generally, the parties do not dispute the material facts relevant to this motion.
Bay Mills is a federally recognized Indian tribe. Michigan v. Bay Mills Indian Cmty. , 572 U.S. 782, 134 S.Ct. 2024, 2028, 188 L.Ed.2d 1071 (2014). At one point, the Bay Mills people, or their predecessors, resided throughout the eastern half of Michigan's upper peninsula and most of the northeast portion of the Michigan's lower peninsula. (Compl. ¶ 11 PageID.165.) Through the Treaty of March 28, 1836, the Bay Mills Indian Community ceded much of their lands to the United States. (Id. ¶ 11.) Currently, the Bay Mills reservation is located in the northeast portion of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, along the shore of Lake Superior. (ECF No. 54-2 Map PageID.435.)
In 1948, Congress created the Indian Claims Commission (ICC) to resolve historic claims by Indian tribes against the United States. Bay Mills filed claims with the ICC related to compensation for land ceded or sold to the United States in the 1836 Treaty, and several other treaties.
(Compl. ¶ 13 PageID.165.) Bay Mills ultimately secured a money judgment from the ICC. (Id. ) Congress appropriated money in 1971 to pay the money judgment, but the funds were not distributed. (Id. ¶ 14.)
Relevant to the competing interpretations of a different statute that is the focus of this lawsuit, Congress enacted the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) in 1988, which provides a statutory basis for gaming operations run by Indian tribes. 25 U.S.C. § 2702(1). The IGRA authorizes gaming only on "Indian lands," which are defined as (1) all lands within the limits of any Indian reservation, (2) any lands title to which is either held in trust by the United States for the benefit of any Indian Tribe or individual or held by any Indian tribe or individual subject to restriction by the United States against alienation and over which an Indian tribe exercises governmental power. Id. § 2703(4). The IGRA further provides that gaming may occur only in conformity with a valid compact between the State in which the gaming activities are located and the Indian tribe. Id. § 2710(d)(1)(C).
Several years after the IGRA became law, in 1993, Bay Mills and the State of Michigan negotiated and then entered into a Tribal State Gaming Compact. Bay Mills Indian Cmty. , 134 S.Ct. at 2029. The Compact permits Bay Mills to operate Class III gaming activities on its own Indian lands and, conversely, prohibits Bay Mills from operating gaming activities outside of its own Indian lands. Id. By permitting Class III gaming operations only in conformance with a valid Tribal-State compact, the IGRA also prohibits Bay Mills from conducting gaming operations outside of its own Indian lands.
In 1996, Bay Mills sued the Secretary of the Interior to force the distribution of the ICC judgment funds. (Compl. ¶ 14 PageID.165.) Bay Mills sought a writ of mandamus to force the Secretary to develop a plan to distribute the funds allocated by Congress for its ICC claims. (Id. ) In December 1997, Congress enacted the Michigan Indian Land Claims Settlement Act (MILCSA) to implement the ICC judgments and to allocate the funds. Section 107 provided for a plan for the use and distribution of the Bay Mills Indian Community Funds. Bay Mills had to establish a Land Trust, into which twenty percent of the money received would be deposited. MILCSA § 107(a)(1). The statute then identified how the interest earned from that money could be spent.
(3) The earnings generated by the Land Trust shall be used exclusively for improvements on tribal land or the consolidation and enhancement of tribal landholdings through purchase or exchange. Any land acquired with funds from the Land Trust shall be held as Indian lands are held.
This lawsuit concerns the status of title to the Vanderbilt Parcel, 27 acres of land in Corwith Township, Michigan.1 (Compl. ¶ 25.) In August 2010, using funds from the Land Trust, Bay Mills purchased the property, the Vanderbilt Parcel.2 Corwith Township is located in Otsego County, in the upper part of Michigan's lower peninsula. The Township is approximately fifty miles south of the Mackinac Bridge, which connects Michigan's lower and upper peninsula. The Vanderbilt Parcel is about 125 miles from the current Bay Mills reservation. Bay Mills Indian Cmty. , 134 S.Ct. at 2029. Three months after purchasing the property, in November 2010, Bay Mills opened a Class III gaming facility on the Vanderbilt Parcel. (Compl. ¶ 36 PageID.168.) On December 21, 2010, Michigan sued to close the facility. (Compl. ¶ 43 PageID.169.) Ultimately, the Supreme Court held that Bay Mills enjoyed tribal sovereignty and could not be sued by Michigan in federal court. Bay Mills Indian Cmty. , 134 S.Ct. at 2039. In 2011, Bay Mills filed this lawsuit.3 Defendant Snyder filed the pending motion for summary judgment.
Summary judgment is appropriate only if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories and admissions, together with the affidavits, show there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a) and (c) ; Payne v. Novartis Pharms. Corp. , 767 F.3d 526, 530 (6th Cir. 2014). The burden is on the moving party to show that no genuine issue of material fact exists, but that burden may be discharged by pointing out the absence of evidence to support the nonmoving party's case. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(1) ; Hollis v. Chestnut Bend Homeowners Ass'n , 760 F.3d 531, 543 (6th Cir. 2014). The facts, and the inferences drawn from them, must be viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc. , 477 U.S. 242, 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986) ). In resolving a motion for summary judgment, the court does not weigh the evidence and determine the truth of the matter; the court determines only if there exists a genuine issue for trial. Tolan v. Cotton , 572 U.S. 650, 134 S.Ct. 1861, 1866, 188 L.Ed.2d 895 (2014) (quoting Anderson , 477 U.S. at 249, 106 S.Ct. 2505 ).
The dispute between the parties, both the lawsuit itself and the pending motion, requires the Court to interpret an act of Congress. The United States Supreme Court has noted that "the standard principles of statutory construction do not have their usual force in cases involving Indian law." Montana v. Blackfeet Tribe of Indians , 471 U.S. 759, 766, 105 S.Ct. 2399, 85 L.Ed.2d 753 (1985). "The canons of construction applicable in Indian law are rooted in the unique trust relationship between the United States and the Indians." Oneida Cty., New York v. Oneida Indian Nation of New York State , 470 U.S. 226, 247, 105 S.Ct. 1245, 84 L.Ed.2d 169 (1985) ( Oneida II ). When a statute is ambiguous, meaning that the statute is susceptible to more than one plausible construction, the choice between the two is determined by a principle "deeply rooted" in Indian jurisprudence: statutes are to be construed liberally in favor of Indians, with ambiguous provisions interpreted for their benefit.
Cty. of Yakima v. Confederated Tribes and Bands of Yakima Indian Nation , 502 U.S. 251, 269, 112 S.Ct. 683, 116 L.Ed.2d 687 (1992) (quoting Blackfeet Tribe , 471 U.S. at 766, 105 S.Ct. 2399 ); White Mountain Apache Tribe v. Bracker , 448 U.S. 136, 143-44, 100 S.Ct. 2578, 65 L.Ed.2d 665 (1980) ().
Canons of statutory construction, however, are not mandatory guidelines. Chickasaw Nation v. United States , 534 U.S. 84, 94, 122 S.Ct. 528, 151 L.Ed.2d 474 (2001). Where the statute is not ambiguous, or congressional intent is clearly expressed, the canon of construction requiring ambiguities be resolved in favor of Indians does not apply. South Carolina v. Catawba Indian Tribe, Inc. , 476 U.S. 498, 506, 106 S.Ct. 2039, 90 L.Ed.2d 490 (1986). And, where a court interprets a congressional statute, as opposed to...
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