Cabazon Band of Mission Indians v. Wilson, s. 96-16432
| Citation | 124 F.3d 1050 |
| Decision Date | 02 September 1997 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 96-16432,96-16443,s. 96-16432 |
| Parties | , 97 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 7065, 97 Daily Journal D.A.R. 11,412 CABAZON BAND OF MISSION INDIANS, a federally recognized Indian Tribe; Sycuan Band of Mission Indians, Plaintiffs-Appellees, Barona Band of Mission Indians, a federally-recognized Indian tribe a/k/a Barona Group of Capitan Grande Band of Mission Indians, Plaintiff-Intervenor-Appellee, Viejas Band of Mission Indians, Intervenor-Appellee, v. Pete WILSON, Governor of the State of California; State of California; California Horse Racing Board, Defendants-Appellants. Southern California Off-Track Wagering, Inc.; Del Mar Thoroughbred Club; Hollywood Park, Inc.; Los Angeles Turf Club; Oak Tree Racing Association; Los Angeles County Fair; Los Alamitos Race Course, Applicants in Intervention-Appellants. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (9th Circuit) |
Manuel M. Medeiros, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, Sacramento, CA, for defendants-appellants.
Glen M. Feldman, O'Connor, Cavanaugh, Anderson, Westover, Killingsworth & Beshears, Phoenix, AZ, for plaintiffs-appellees the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians.
George Forman, Forman & Prochaska, San Rafael, CA, for plaintiffs-appellees the Sycuan Band of Mission Indians.
John Winkelman, Alpine, CA, for plaintiffs-intervenors-appellees the Viejas Band of Mission Indians.
Art Bunce, Escondido, CA, for plaintiffs-intervenors-appellees the Barona Band of Mission Indians.
Cathy Christian, Nielsen, Merksamer, Parrinello, Mueller & Naylor, Sacramento, CA, for applicants in intervention-appellants.
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California; David F. Levi, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-90-01118-DFL.
Before: WIGGINS, JOHN T. NOONAN, JR., and TROTT, Circuit Judges.
I. Overview
The plaintiffs in this case are four bands of Indians-the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, the Sycuan Band of Mission Indians, the Barona Band of Mission Indians, and the Viejas Band of Mission Indians (collectively, the "Bands")-who operate simulcast wagering facilities on their tribal lands. In this suit, the Bands seek to force the defendants-Governor Pete Wilson, the California Horse Racing Board, and the State of California (collectively, the "State")-to turn over to the Bands license fees which the State collects from California's horse racing associations based on the revenues generated at the Bands' facilities.
The action arises out of Tribal-State Compacts into which the parties entered pursuant to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 ("IGRA"), 25 U.S.C. §§ 2701-2721. In those Compacts, the parties agreed to submit to the district court the question of whether the license fees are permissible under IGRA. Because the State agreed to turn over the fees to the Bands if the fees are impermissible under IGRA, and because we held in a prior decision that the fees are impermissible, we affirm the district court's decision ordering the State to turn over the fees.
Also before us is the appeal by Southern California Off-Track Wagering, Inc. ("SCOTWINC") and six racing parks (collectively, the "Applicants") from the district court's denial of their motion to intervene as defendants. Because the Applicants waited until after the district court had resolved the vast majority of the case and until only the motion for reconsideration remained, we affirm the district court's denial of intervention.
II. Background
Despite its long and convoluted history, this case begins and ends with four Tribal-State Compacts, entered into by the State and each Band pursuant to IGRA. These Compacts govern the Bands' operation of simulcast wagering facilities and the State's collection of fees from that activity. In these Compacts, the State agreed to pay over to the Bands the amounts of past and future license fees it collected from the racing associations, if a federal district court declared the fees impermissible under IGRA. In a prior decision, we declared them impermissible. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians v. Wilson, 37 F.3d 430 (9th Cir.1994) (hereinafter, "Cabazon II "). We now hold the State to the terms of the Compacts to which it agreed.
The initial story is set forth in the district court's decision in Cabazon Band of Mission Indians v. State of California, 788 F.Supp. 1513 (E.D.Cal.1992) (hereinafter, "Cabazon I "), and in our decision in Cabazon II. We will review only the necessary facts. IGRA authorizes Indian tribes to conduct certain gaming operations on tribal lands and establishes three classes of gaming operations. Off-track betting on horse racing at simulcast facilities is classified as class III gaming under IGRA and is permissible only if: (1) it is authorized by the governing body of the Indian tribe, (2) it is located in a State that permits such gaming, and (3) it is conducted in conformance with a Tribal-State compact. 25 U.S.C. § 2710(d)(1).
California permits such off-track wagering, having established an extensive state regulatory scheme to dictate how the money wagered on these races is distributed. See Cal. Bus. & Prof.Code §§ 19605-19611. The statutory plan provides for distribution of all wagers in predetermined percentages to various entities, including the State, the simulcast facility operators (here, the Bands), and the racing associations. See id. § 19605.71. After the bettors receive their winnings and these statutory distributions are made, the remaining funds are divided equally between the horsemen and the racing associations. See id. §§ 19605.8, 19606. Under California's regulations, the racing associations pay license fees to the State in the amount of 1.5% to 4.0% of the revenue generated at the off-track facility. See id. §§ 19611, 19606.5, 19606.6, 19605.7(i), 19605.71(d).
In 1990 and 1991, the four Bands and the State entered into compacts pursuant to IGRA allowing the Bands to operate off-track wagering facilities on their lands. The Compacts set out the distribution of the wagers, mirroring the distributions set forth in the State's regulatory scheme. The Bands and the State, however, could not agree whether California has jurisdiction to collect license fees based on revenues generated at the Bands' simulcast facilities. In the Cabazon and Sycuan Compacts, those Bands and the State therefore agreed to submit the issue to a federal district court for resolution. They also agreed that if the fees were impermissible, the State would pay the past and future fees it collected over to the Bands, and if the fees were permissible, the State would retain and continue to collect the fees. These terms were set out in Paragraph 19 of the Cabazon Compact 1 as follows:
(B) State License Fee.
1. Cabazon shall seek a declaratory judgment against the State from a United States District Court of competent jurisdiction as to whether the deduction and distribution of the state license fee under Business and Professions Code Section 19596.6, subdivisions (d)(1), (d)(2), (k), and (l ), are permissible under the Act [, IGRA].
2. In the event a final judgment is obtained that the deduction and distribution of the state license fee is permissible under the Act, and following the exhaustion of all appellate review, the State shall retain all license fees previously distributed to it, and shall be entitled to collect the state license fee from all wagers at the Cabazon simulcast wagering facility....
3. In the event a final judgment is obtained that the deduction of the state license fee is impermissible under the Act, and following the exhaustion of all appellate review, the State shall pay over to Cabazon the amount of all state license fees previously distributed to the State under this Compact exclusive of assessments due and owing under subparagraph 4, below, and Cabazon shall thereafter be entitled to receive an amount equivalent to the state license fee from all wagers at the Cabazon simulcast wagering facility. The amount of state license fees previously distributed to the state and not reasonably claimed by the State as due and owing from the commencement of operation of the facility shall be paid over to Cabazon as soon as practicable and in any event, not later than sixty (60) days following final judgment.
(Emphasis added.) The Barona and Viejas Bands similarly disagreed with the State about the license fees; in their Compacts, these Bands and the State agreed to be bound by the result in the Cabazon and Sycuan litigation.
Pursuant to the Compacts, the Cabazon and Sycuan Bands brought suit in the district court, seeking a declaratory judgment. The district court held that the collection of license fees was permissible under IGRA because the fees did not constitute either a direct tax or an impermissible indirect tax on the Bands. Cabazon I, 788 F.Supp. 1513. We reversed. Cabazon II, 37 F.3d 430. We held that "IGRA preempts the State of California from taxing offtrack betting activities on tribal lands." Id. at 435. Analyzing "whether Congress has, by implication, acted to preempt the extension of state authority onto Indian reservations in this instance," id. at 433, we considered federal, tribal, and state interests in the extension of the State's licensing scheme to tribal gaming. Central to our analysis was our conclusion that, under the terms of the Compacts which govern this case, the Bands have a "right" to the unpaid license fees. We remanded to the district court with instructions to enter summary judgment in favor of the Cabazon and Sycuan Bands. Our decision in Cabazon II is central to the resolution of the instant dispute, and it limits the task before us.
After Cabazon II, the litigation entered, in the words of the district court, "a new and confusing stage." The State refused to pay the fees to the Bands, declared the Compacts invalid, and threatened to cut off the simulcast signal...
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