Benally v. Hodel, 88-15244

• Decision Date: 01 October 1991
• Docket Number: No. 88-15244,88-15244
• Citation: 940 F.2d 1194
• Parties: June R. BENALLY; Theodore Bedonie; Billy C. Adeki; Mary Yesslith; Harvey Begay; Mae Horseson; Mary Jane Chissie; Catherine Joe, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Donald P. HODEL; Ross O. Swimmer, in his individual capacity and as Assistant Secretary Indian Affairs, United States Department of Interior; Daniel L. Jackson, in his individual capacity and as Special Assistant to Assistant Secretary Indian Affairs, United States Department of Interior; Navajo and Hopi Relocation Commission, an independent executive agency of the United States; Ralph A. Watkins, Jr., in his individual capacity and as Chairman of the Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation Commission; Hawley Atkinson, in his individual capacity and as Commissioner of the Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation Commission; Sandra Massetto, in her individual capacity and as Commissioner of the Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation Commission; United States of America, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 1194

940 F.2d 1194

June R. BENALLY; Theodore Bedonie; Billy C. Adeki; Mary Yesslith; Harvey Begay; Mae Horseson; Mary Jane Chissie; Catherine Joe, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Donald P. HODEL; Ross O. Swimmer, in his individual capacity and as Assistant Secretary Indian Affairs, United States Department of Interior; Daniel L. Jackson, in his individual capacity and as Special Assistant to Assistant Secretary Indian Affairs, United States Department of Interior; Navajo and Hopi Relocation Commission, an independent executive agency of the United States; Ralph A Watkins, Jr., in his individual capacity and as Chairman of the Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation Commission; Hawley Atkinson, in his individual capacity and as Commissioner of the Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation Commission; Sandra Massetto, in her individual capacity and as Commissioner of the Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation Commission; United States of America, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 88-15244.

United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted Oct. 4, 1989.

Decided Sept. 13, 1990.

As Amended on Denial of Rehearing July 31, 1991.

As Amended Oct. 1, 1991.

Helen A. Tuddenham and David L. Nash, Navajo-Hopi Legal Services Program, Tuba City, Ariz., for plaintiffs-appellants.

Michael P. Healy, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., for defendants-appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Arizona.

Before TANG, HALL and BRUNETTI, Circuit Judges.

CYNTHIA HOLCOMB HALL, Circuit Judge:

Appellants, individual members of the Navajo Tribe, timely appeal from the district court's order dismissing their first amended complaint on the ground that they lack standing. We affirm.

I

In their amended complaint, appellants allege that the Secretary of the Interior, other agents of the Department of the Interior, and the Navajo-Hopi Relocation Commission ("the Relocation Commission") ¹ have failed to comply with the mandates of the Navajo and Hopi Indian Settlement Act ("the Settlement Act"), 25 U.S.C. Sec. 640d et seq., and the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Act of 1970 ("the URA"), 42 U.S.C. Sec. 4601 et seq., in the relocation of Navajo individuals from Hopi land. ² Appellants seek declaratory and injunctive relief. Their goal is to halt the relocation of Navajos and the expenditure of funds related to relocation until the alleged statutory and constitutional requirements are met.

Congress enacted the 1974 Settlement Act to resolve the longstanding dispute between the Navajo and Hopi Tribes over certain tracts of land that had earlier been designated as reservations. The Settlement Act provided for the appointment of a mediator to assist in negotiating a settlement and partition of those areas of the 1882 Reservation area that were determined to be jointly held by the Navajo and Hopi tribes in Healing v. Jones, 210 F.Supp. 125 (D.Ariz.1962), aff'd per curiam, 373 U.S. 758, 83 S.Ct. 1559, 10 L.Ed.2d 703 (1963). See 25 U.S.C. Sec. 640d. The Settlement Act also granted the district court residual authority to make a final partition of the joint use land in the event that the mediator's efforts failed. See id. Sec. 640d-3. The district court ultimately had to exercise this residual authority; it entered a final partition in 1977, which we approved in 1980. See Sekaquaptewa v. MacDonald, 626 F.2d 113 (9th Cir.1980).

The Settlement Act also provided for judicial resolution of land disputes pertaining to a second parcel of land, the 1934 Reservation area. It provided that either tribe could bring suit against the other "through the chairman of its tribal council for and on behalf of the tribe," 25 U.S.C. Sec. 640d-7(a), to determine the tribes' respective interests in the 1934 Reservation area land, see id., as well as to resolve supplemental actions for accounting, fair value of grazing, and claims for damages to the land, see id. Sec. 640d-7(c). The Settlement Act also authorized the tribal chairmen to bring these supplemental actions regarding the 1882 Reservation land in the wake of partition. See id. Sec. 640d-17(a). Finally, with regard to both parcels of land, the Settlement Act provided that

Either tribe may institute such further original, ancillary, or supplemental actions against the other tribe as may be necessary or desirable to insure the quiet and peaceful enjoyment of the reservation lands of the tribes by the tribes and the members thereof, and to fully accomplish all objects and purposes of this subchapter. Such actions may be commenced in the District Court by either tribe against the other, acting through the chairman of its tribal council, for and on behalf of the tribe, including all villages, clans, and individual members thereof.

Id. Sec. 640d-17(c); see id. Sec. 640d-7(c) (applying Sec. 640d-17(c) to the 1934 Reservation land). Although these provisions are not directly implicated in the present action by virtue of the fact that this is not an intertribal suit, they nonetheless inform the parties' debate.

Congress understood when it passed the Settlement Act that certain individuals would have to move once the disputed lands were partitioned. It therefore included in the Settlement Act a provision establishing a three-member, independent Relocation Commission to plan relocation and disburse relocation benefits to those affected. See id. Secs. 640d-11 to 640d-15. A recent amendment to the Settlement Act establishes that "appeals from any eligibility determination of the Relocation Commission ... shall be brought in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona." Id. Sec. 640d-14(g). Even before passage of this amendment, however, we allowed an individual to appeal from such an eligibility determination. See Walker v. Navajo-Hopi Indian Relocation Comm'n, 728 F.2d 1276 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 918, 105 S.Ct. 298, 83 L.Ed.2d 233 (1984).

The Settlement Act thus implicates both tribal and individual rights. In the context of an intertribal suit involving land, the tribal chairmen represent both sets of rights. See Sekaquaptewa v. MacDonald, 591 F.2d 1289, 1292 (9th Cir.1979) ("Finally, Sec. 640d-17(c) provides that individual interests may be litigated in a suit between the two tribes only when those interests are represented by the tribal chairmen."); see also Sidney v. Zah, 718 F.2d 1453, 1457 (9th Cir.1983) (due process not violated by allowing only Navajo tribal chairman to represent tribal members in intertribal dispute over improvements on Hopi land). But in the context of a determination by the Relocation Commission of benefits eligibility, individuals are allowed to sue on behalf of their own interests. See Bedoni v. Navajo-Hopi Relocation Comm'n, 878 F.2d 1119 (9th Cir.1989); Walker, 728 F.2d 1276.

II

As a preliminary matter, we reject appellee's contention that Benally is the sole appellant before this court because hers is the only name specified in the notice of appeal. The caption states "June R. Benally, et al., Plaintiffs." The body of the notice states, "Notice is hereby given that Plaintiffs, June R. Benally, et al., hereby appeal ... the final judgment."

Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 3(c) provides that a notice of appeal "shall specify the party or parties taking the appeal." In Torres v. Oakland Scavenger Co., 487 U.S. 312, 317-18, 108 S.Ct. 2405, 2409, 101 L.Ed.2d 285 (1988), the Supreme Court held that Rule 3 is a jurisdictional requirement, and is met "only by some designation that gives fair notice of the specific individual or entity seeking to appeal." There, due to a clerical error, the notice of appeal specifically listed fifteen out of the sixteen plaintiffs. Id. at 313, 108 S.Ct. at 2407. The Court held that Torres, the unnamed plaintiff, had not satisfied the jurisdictional requirement because the term "et al." failed to provide sufficient notice to the court and the opposition of his intent to appeal. Id. at 317-18, 108 S.Ct. at 2409.

Ninth Circuit cases interpreting Torres have held that the use of "et al." in the caption is not insufficient when accompanied by a generic term, such as plaintiffs or defendants, in the body of the notice. Cammack v. Waihee, 932 F.2d 765, 768 (9th Cir.1991) (generic reference to "defendants" in body of notice, in addition to use of "et al." in caption, constituted sufficient notice that all defendants intended to appeal) (citing National Center for Immigrants' Rights, Inc. v. INS, 892 F.2d 814 (9th Cir.1989) (per curiam)); Gilbreath v. Cutter Biological Inc., 931 F.2d 1320, 1323 (9th Cir.1991) (generic reference in notice of appeal to "plaintiffs, as consolidated into this cause" constituted sufficient notice that all plaintiffs intended to appeal); National Center for Immigrants' Rights, Inc. v. INS, 892 F.2d 814, 816 (9th Cir.1989) (generic reference to "defendants" in body of notice, coupled with use of "et al." in caption constituted sufficient notice that all defendants intended to appeal). As long as it is sufficiently clear from the notice of appeal that all plaintiffs or all defendants intend to appeal, failure to name each specifically is not fatal to the unnamed persons' appeals. Id. at 816-17.

In the present case, use of the term "et al.", coupled with the reference to "plaintiffs" in the body of the notice of appeal gives fair notice to the court and the opposition that all plaintiffs intend to appeal. Unlike Torres, where the caption misled the appellee by listing all but one plaintiff, this caption lists only one of the plaintiffs, designating the rest as "et al." It is sufficiently clear from the notice of appeal that all plaintiffs intended to appeal. Thus, this court has jurisdiction over the appeal and over each of the plaintiffs. ³

III

Appellants seeks a declaration that the Relocation Commission is not complying with the relocation procedures described in the Settlement Act at 25 U.S.C. Sec. 640d-11 to 640d-14. They also seek to...