Ford Motor Co. v. Todocheene ex rel. Todocheene

• Decision Date: 19 September 2002
• Docket Number: No. CV-02-1100-PCT-PGR.,CV-02-1100-PCT-PGR.
• Citation: Ford Motor Co. v. Todocheene ex rel. Todocheene, 258 F.Supp.2d 1038 (D. Ariz. 2002)
• Parties: FORD MOTOR COMPANY, Plaintiff, v. Joe R. TODOCHEENE and Mary Todocheene, as the surviving natural parents of Esther TODOCHEENE, deceased; Tribal Court in and for the Navajo Nation; and the Honorable Leroy S. Bedonie, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Arizona

Page 1038

258 F.Supp.2d 1038

FORD MOTOR COMPANY, Plaintiff, v. Joe R. TODOCHEENE and Mary Todocheene, as the surviving natural parents of Esther TODOCHEENE, deceased; Tribal Court in and for the Navajo Nation; and the Honorable Leroy S. Bedonie, Defendants.

No. CV-02-1100-PCT-PGR.

United States District Court, D. Arizona.

September 19, 2002.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Vaughn A Crawford, Andrew Stewart Ashworth, Snell & Wilmer LLP, Phoenix, AZ, for Plaintiff.

Edward D Fitzhugh, Law Office of Edward D Fitzhugh, Tempe, AZ, for Defendants.

ORDER

ROSENBLATT, District Judge.

This is an action for declaratory and injunctive relief filed by plaintiff Ford Motor Company (hereinafter "Ford") against defendants Joe and Mary Todocheene as the surviving natural parents of Esther Todocheene (hereinafter "Todocheenes"), the District Courts of the Navajo Nation (hereinafter "tribal court") and the Honorable Leroy S. Bedonie, a tribal court judge of the Navajo Nation¹ (hereinafter "Judge Bedonie"). The Complaint alleges that Judge Bedonie, as a sitting judge, on behalf of the District Courts of the Navajo Nation, exceeded the limits of the court's jurisdiction in a tribal court action involving the Todocheenes as plaintiffs and Ford as a defendant. Pending before this Court is Ford's Motion for Preliminary Injunction.

FACTUAL HISTORY

On June 8, 1998, Esther Todocheene (hereinafter "the decedent"), while employed as a law enforcement officer with the Navajo Department of Public Safety (hereinafter "Navajo DPS"), was involved in a one car motor vehicle accident which occurred on the Navajo reservation. She was driving a Navajo DPS Ford Expedition.

The accident occurred on a dirt road on Navajo land in the state of Utah². As presented to this Court, the road is a reservation road maintained by the Navajo Nation. There is no federal or state right-of-way, nor is it on non-Indian fee land. The parties do not contest this characterization of the road's status.

When the incident occurred, the Ford Expedition rolled and the decedent was ejected from the car. She was fatally injured. The exact cause of the roll-over and ejection are in dispute. Ford claims the decedent was not wearing her seatbelt at the time the vehicle rolled. The Todocheenes contend that the Ford Expedition was defective and, in particular, the seatbelt was not working properly.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On April 21, 2000, the Todocheenes filed a product liability lawsuit against Ford in the Tuba City Division of the Navajo Tribal Court. The Complaint alleges the Ford Expedition driven by decedent was defective and unreasonably dangerous in design or manufacture. The Ford Expedition was designed and manufactured by Ford in Michigan.

On June 13, 2000, Ford filed an Answer to the Complaint in tribal court denying the Expedition was defective and unreasonably dangerous in design or manufacture. In addition, the Answer alleged the tribal court lacked both subject matter and personal jurisdiction over the claims against Ford.

On May 25, 2000, Ford improperly removed the tribal court action to federal court on the basis of diversity. The matter was assigned to the Honorable Earl H. Carroll, United States District Court Judge, District of Arizona. On June 13, 2000, the Todocheenes filed a Motion to Dismiss the matter from federal court arguing the federal court lacked subject matter jurisdiction.

On June 27, 2000, the tribal court transferred the action from the Tuba City Judicial District to the Kayenta Judicial District, where it remains pending before Judge Bedonie.³

While the matter was pending before Judge Carroll, Ford filed a Motion to Dismiss in tribal court for lack of subject matter and personal jurisdiction on November 21, 2000.⁴ While the Motion to Dismiss was pending in tribal court, Judge Carroll issued an Order remanding the case to tribal court on December 20, 2000. Judge Carroll reasoned removal was improper because 28 U.S.C. § 1441(a), the basis for Ford's removal, is not applicable to tribal courts—only state courts.

On January 9, 2001, Judge Bedonie issued an Order denying Ford's Motion to Dismiss. Judge Bedonie concluded Ford submitted itself to tribal court jurisdiction by filing an Answer in Navajo Tribal Court.

Subsequently, the United States Supreme Court rendered an opinion in Nevada v. Hicks. 533 U.S. 353, 121 S.Ct. 2304, 150 L.Ed.2d 398 (2001). Ford believed Hicks "conclusively shows that this court [tribal court] may not exercise jurisdiction over Ford." Accordingly, Ford moved for reconsideration of its Motion to Dismiss, relying on the Hicks decision.

On May 16, 2002, Judge Bedonie denied Ford's Motion for Reconsideration. Relying on the Navajo Nation Code, he stated that the tribal court had subject matter jurisdiction "over tort cases pursuant to its 'Courts and Procedure' statute that focuses on damages for injuries."⁵ Further, the tribal court asserted that the Navajo Long-Arm Civil Jurisdiction and Service of Process Act conferred jurisdiction.⁶ More specifically, Judge Bedonie held,

Although this Court [tribal court] asserts jurisdiction over Ford based on the contacts with Ford's subsidiary, Ford Credit, anyone in the chain of distribution, from parts manufacturer to retailer, is liable in products liability suits. In this case, Ford Credit is an agent of Ford and, thus, they are the same company.

Judge Bedonie aptly noted that this was a "case of first impression" recognizing the absence of federal statutory and case law limiting tribal civil jurisdiction over "non-Indians" on reservation lands that are not fee lands or rights-of-way.

Ford filed a Verified Complaint for injunctive and declaratory relief in this Court on June 13, 2002. Ford's Complaint seeks a restraining order against the Todocheenes, Judge Bedonie, and the District Courts of the Navajo Nation until this Court declares whether or not the tribal court has jurisdiction to hear the Todocheenes' lawsuit. Initially, Ford argued that because Judge Bedonie had scheduled a Pretrial Conference, a trial date might be imminent and trying the matter would cause irreparable harm.

This Court heard arguments on the Motion for Temporary Restraining Order on June 18, 2002 and declined to enter a restraining order at that time. An impending Pretrial Conference with no specific trial date set in tribal court, was insufficient to warrant a finding of irreparable harm under Ninth Circuit precedent. See Arcamuzi v. Continental Air Lines, Inc. 819 F.2d 935 (9th Cir.1987). In addition, sufficient likelihood of success on the merits was questionable since Ford acknowledged it did not exhaust tribal court remedies. The matter was scheduled for a hearing on the Motion for Preliminary Injunction and the parties were given an opportunity to fully brief the issues presented. On July 12, 2002 a hearing on the Motion for Preliminary Injunction took place and the matter was taken under advisement. The following sets forth the Court's opinion on the Motion for Preliminary Injunction.

DISCUSSION

A. Standard Governing Preliminary Injunctive Relief

In determining whether to grant preliminary injunctive relief, the Ninth Circuit traditionally considers: (1) the likelihood of success on the merits; (2) the possibility of irreversible injury absent an injunction; (3) the balance of harms; and (4) where appropriate, the public interest. See United States v. Nutri-cology Inc., 982 F.2d 394, 398 (9th Cir.1992); see also United States v. Odessa Union Warehouse Co-op., 833 F.2d 172, 174 (9th Cir.1987); Caribbean Marine Serv. Co. v. Baldrige, 844 F.2d 668, 674 (9th Cir.1988)(a court must consider public interest in balancing hardships when public interest might be affected.)

More recently, the Ninth Circuit has narrowed the traditional test for preliminary injunctive relief and only requires a party to demonstrate either (1) a combination of probable success on the merits and the possibility of irreparable harm, or (2) that serious questions are raised and the balance of hardships tips in its favor. See Arcamuzi v. Continental Air Lines, Inc., 819 F.2d 935, 937 (9th Cir.1987). "These two formulations represent two points on a sliding scale in which the required degree of irreparable harm increases as the probability of success decreases." Oakland Tribune, Inc. v. Chronicle Publishing Co., 762 F.2d 1374, 1376 (9th Cir.1985).

In rendering its decision, this Court has given great weight to the public interest in addition to considering the likelihood of success on the merits and the possibility of irreparable harm.

B. District Court Jurisdiction

There are three primary means for initiating federal court actions over controversies involving tribes and their members which arise in Indian country: federal question jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331; diversity jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332; and 28 U.S.C. § 1362 which is only available to Indian tribes.⁷ Ford's Complaint asserts jurisdiction on the basis of 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331, 1332, 1343 and 2201.

This Court has jurisdiction pursuant to § 1331. See National Farmers Union Ins. Co. v. Crow Tribe, 471 U.S. 845, 852, 105 S.Ct. 2447, 2451, 85 L.Ed.2d 818 (1985). "[T]he question whether an Indian tribe retains the power to compel a non-Indian property owner to submit to the civil jurisdiction of a tribal court is one that must be answered by reference to federal law and is a `federal question' under § 1331. Id; see also Strate v. A-1 Contractors, 520 U.S. 438, 448, 117 S.Ct. 1404, 1411, 137 L.Ed.2d 661 (1997).

C. Tribal Court Jurisdiction

As will be more fully discussed below, the Hicks Court specifically left "open the question of tribal-court jurisdiction over nonmember defendants in general." 533 U.S. 353, 358 n. 2, 121 S.Ct. 2304, 2309 n. 2, 150 L.Ed.2d 398 (2001). Since the Supreme Court left that particular question open, this Court must now determine if Ford, a nonmember of the Navajo Nation, should be subject to the jurisdiction...