Cayuga Indian Nation of New York v. Cuomo
| Decision Date | 19 September 1983 |
| Docket Number | 80-CV-960.,No. 80-CV-930,80-CV-930 |
| Citation | 565 F. Supp. 1297 |
| Parties | The CAYUGA INDIAN NATION OF NEW YORK, by its Chiefs, Franklin PATTERSON, James Leaffe, Vernon Isaac, Kenneth John, and Frank Bonamie, Individually and as Members of the Cayuga Indian Nation of New York, Plaintiffs, and The Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma, Plaintiff-Intervenor, v. Mario M. CUOMO, as Governor of the State of New York; The State of New York; Miller Brewing Company; The County of Cayuga, New York; Consolidated Rail Corporation; David L. Koch; George G. Souhan; The County of Seneca, New York; and New York State Electric and Gas Corporation, Individually and as representatives of all others similarly situated, Defendants. The CAYUGA INDIAN NATION OF NEW YORK, By its Chiefs, Franklin PATTERSON, James Leaffe, Vernon Isaac, Kenneth John, and Frank Bonamie, Individually and as Members of the Cayuga Indian Nation of New York, Plaintiffs, and The Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma, Plaintiff-Intervenor, v. William J. KIRK, Gail Kirk, Henry W. Koch, Barbara F. Koch, Robert Maier, Charles Hitchcock, Philo Bacon, Wilma Anthony, Daniel A. DePasquale, Alice M. DePasquale, Richard Hill, and Virginia Hill, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of New York |
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Wender, Murase & White, Washington, D.C., Meggesto & Meggesto, Syracuse, N.Y., for plaintiffs; Arthur J. Gajarsa, Kenneth A. Marra, Washington, D.C., Judy Lewis Meggesto, Syracuse, N.Y., of counsel.
Shack & Kimball, P.C., Washington, D.C., Wiles, Fahey & Lynch, Syracuse, N.Y., for plaintiff-intervenor; Glenn M. Feldman, John B. Beaty, Washington, D.C., Joseph E. Fahey, Syracuse, N.Y., of counsel.
Robert Abrams, Atty. Gen. of N.Y., Albany, N.Y., Hale & Dorr, Goodwin, Proctor & Hoar, Boston, Mass., Huber Lawrence & Abell, New York City, Hiscock, Lee, Rogers, Henley & Barclay, Syracuse, N.Y., for defendants; Jeremiah Jochnowitz, Asst. Sol. Gen., Albany, N.Y., James D. St. Clair, William F. Lee, Donald R. Frederico, Allan Van Gestel, Jeffrey C. Bates, Boston, Mass., Howard M. Schmertz, New York City, Richard D. Davidson, Syracuse, N.Y., of counsel.
The Cayuga Indian Nation and five chiefs of that tribe seek a declaration of their current ownership of and right to possess a 64,015 acre tract of land in central New York State, an award of fair rental value for the almost 200 years during which they have been out of possession, and other monetary and protective relief. The Cayugas allege that this tract is reserved for their tribe by treaties with both the United States and the State of New York, and has been subject to a restraint against alienation under the Nonintercourse Act, now codified at 25 U.S.C. ? 177. Though the tract was conveyed to the State through transactions in 1795 and 1807, and thereafter conveyed, in large part, to private purchasers, the Cayugas claim that under federal law their right to possession has never been extinguished.
This suit is one of a recent series of land claims brought by eastern Indian tribes in the federal courts.1 Such claims have imposed upon the courts the painful task of determining whether, and how, federal commitments to tribes are to be enforced against states, against municipalities, and against innocent non-Indians who have for generations considered the land their own. Most of the claims, like this one, challenge the validity of conveyances by the tribes which occurred after the adoption of the Constitution, and after the enactment of the first Nonintercourse Act. Although as of this date only one such claim has reached a final judgment for the plaintiffs, Oneida Indian Nation of New York v. County of Oneida, 70-CV-35 (N.D.N.Y. Oct. 5, 1981) (Port, J.), appeals docketed, (2d Cir. June 11, 1982; June 24, 1982), others have withstood a variety of challenges to the jurisdiction of the court and the legal sufficiency of the complaint.
For example, it has been established that a claim asserting a possessory right conferred by treaty and protected by the Nonintercourse Act is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the federal court, Oneida Indian Nation of New York v. County of Oneida, 414 U.S. 661, 94 S.Ct. 772, 39 L.Ed.2d 73 (1974); that the claim may be maintained by any bona fide Indian tribe, Joint Tribal Council of the Passamaquoddy Tribe v. Morton, 528 F.2d 370, 377 (1st Cir.1975); Narragansett Tribe of Indians v. So. R.I. Land Devel. Corp., 418 F.Supp. 798, 808 (D.R.I.1976); and may be maintained without joinder of the federal government, Narragansett Tribe of Indians v. So. R.I. Land Dev. Corp., supra, 418 F.Supp. at 810-813; that defenses based upon state law such as adverse possession, statutes of limitation, laches, or estoppel by sale are unavailable to the defendants, Mohegan Tribe v. State of Connecticut, 638 F.2d 612, 615 n. 3 (2d Cir.1980); Oneida Indian Nation v. County of Oneida, 434 F.Supp. 527, 541-44 (N.D.N.Y. 1977); Schaghticoke Tribe of Indians v. Kent School Corp., 423 F.Supp. 780, 783-85 (D.Conn.1976); Narragansett Tribe of Indians v. So. R.I. Land Devel. Corp., supra, 418 F.Supp. at 803-06; that the Nonintercourse Act was meant to apply throughout the United States and not only to land in "Indian Country", Mohegan Tribe v. State of Connecticut, supra, 638 F.2d 612; and is not geographically limited by the "surrounded by settlements" exception in the Trade and Intercourse Acts. Narragansett Tribe of Indians v. So. R.I. Land Devel. Corp., supra, 418 F.Supp. at 808-809.
Further instruction on the maintainability of tribal land claims has recently appeared in a Second Circuit decision reviewing the dismissal of one such action by this Court. Oneida Indian Nation of New York v. State of New York, 691 F.2d 1070 (2d Cir.1982), aff'g in part and rev'g in part Oneida Indian Nation of New York v. State of New York, 520 F.Supp. 1278 (NDNY 1981). Although Oneida largely concerned a pre-constitutional claim (it was alleged that conveyances in 1785 and 1788 were invalid under Article IX, clause 4 of the Articles of Confederation), the Court's discussion of the availability of particular defenses is largely applicable to any tribal claim which asserts the nonalienability of Indian land under federal law. Thus it is pertinent here that the Second Circuit rejected in Oneida defenses based on the Eleventh Amendment immunity of states, id. at 1079-80, the nonjusticiability doctrine, id. at 1080-1083, state time-bars, id. at 1083-84, and federal time-bars, id. at 1084.
Presently before the Court are further challenges to jurisdiction and the legal sufficiency of a tribal land claim. These challenges are raised by means of (1) a joint motion by the Counties of Cayuga and Seneca, Miller Brewing Company, Consolidated Rail Corporation, and New York State Electric and Gas Corporation (hereinafter "the non-state defendants"), who appear individually and as representatives of the defendant class, to dismiss the complaint pursuant to Rules 12(b)(1) and (6), Fed.R.Civ.P., and (2) a motion by the State of New York and Governor Carey (hereinafter "the state defendants"), also individually and as representatives of the defendant class, to dismiss the complaint pursuant to Rules 12(b)(1), (2) and (6), Fed.R.Civ.P.
The arguments raised by the defendants in support of their motions are, to a large extent, variants of arguments presented to this and other courts in previous tribal land claim litigation. E.g., sovereign immunity, nonjusticiability, statutes of limitations, geographic nonapplicability of the Nonintercourse Act, equitable defenses. These have invariably been rejected in such cases and must be rejected in this case as well. The defendants have advanced other arguments herein which lead the Court into less well-charted territory. E.g., unavailability of an implied right-of-action under the Nonintercourse Act or of a federal common law remedy, abatement of statutory claims. However, for the reasons stated below, these relatively new contentions do not warrant dismissal of the complaint.
The plaintiff Cayuga Indian Nation of New York asserts that it is an Indian Nation or Tribe recognized by the United States and principally situated in New York State, though without a reservation. Its members maintain that they are the "direct successors in interest" to the Cayuga Nation of the Six Nation Iroquois Confederacy which, until the acts complained of in this suit, had occupied the subject land in New York State since time immemorial. They state that tribal relations have been continuously maintained to the present time.
By Memorandum-Decision and Order of November 9, 1981, the Court granted a motion by the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma to intervene as a plaintiff in this suit, pursuant to Rule 24, Fed.R.Civ.P. The Seneca-Cayuga Tribe had established sufficient interest in the action for the purpose of intervention by their allegations that, at the time of the challenged transactions, it had been "incorporated within and was a part of the Cayuga Nation of Indians." According to the Intervenor, the Cayugas split into two branches after they lost their Original Reservation to New York State. One branch settled in Western New York State, and is, apparently, the branch represented by the Cayuga Indian Nation of New York. The Intervenor Seneca-Cayuga Tribe purports to represent the other, larger branch of the Cayugas, which had moved first to Ohio, then to "Indian Territory" (now Oklahoma). The Order permitting intervention does not impair the right of the plaintiff Cayuga Indian Nation of New York or the defendants to challenge the Intervenor's entitlement to a share of the recovery from this lawsuit, if any is ultimately awarded.2
The initial complaint in this action, filed November 19, 1980, named numerous defendants sued individually and as...
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