Koi Nation of N. Cal. v. U.S. Dep't of the Interior

• Decision Date: 16 January 2019
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 17-1718 (BAH)
• Parties: The KOI NATION OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF the INTERIOR, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

361 F.Supp.3d 14

The KOI NATION OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, Plaintiff,

v.UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF the INTERIOR, et al., Defendants.

Civil Action No. 17-1718 (BAH)

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

Signed January 16, 2019

Michael Jon Anderson, Anderson Indian Law, Washington, DC, for Plaintiff.

Matthew M. Marinelli, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

BERYL A. HOWELL, Chief Judge

The federal government's treatment of the plaintiff, the Koi Nation of Northern California ("Koi Nation"), a landless federally recognized Indian tribe, has been marked by decades of mistreatment, including terminating and selling the tribe's reservation in 1956 and denying the tribe the special programs and services provided only to those tribes with federally recognized status. Finally, in 2000, after persistent efforts by the Koi Nation, the defendant, the United States Department of the Interior ("DOI"), acknowledged the "egregious" administrative mistake and reaffirmed the Koi Nation's status as a federally recognized tribe, without requiring the tribe to undergo a formal regulatory process to obtain the same result. In a stark example of the government giving with one hand and taking away with the other, DOI's correction of its own long-standing error is now being used by DOI as the basis to deny the Koi Nation's eligibility for an exception to a statutory prohibition on gaming on Indian land, set out in the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act ("IGRA"), 25 U.S.C. §§ 2701 et seq. , the law that "prescribes the conditions under which Indian tribes may engage in commercial gaming on their reservations," City of Roseville v. Norton , 348 F.3d 1020, 1021 (D.C. Cir. 2003).

The Koi Nation initiated this lawsuit to challenge DOI's decision, on January 19, 2017, to deny the tribe's eligibility for the IGRA exception, known as the "restored lands exception," 25 U.S.C. § 2719(b)(1)(B)(iii), as violative of the Administrative Procedure Act ("APA"), 5 U.S.C. §§ 701 et seq. , IGRA, and the Indian Reorganization Act ("IRA"), 25 U.S.C. §§ 5101 et seq. See Compl. ¶¶ 10, 82–124, ECF No. 1. Pending before the Court are the parties' cross-motions for summary judgment. See Pl.'s Mot. Summ. J. ("Pl.'s Mot."), ECF No. 14; Defs.' Cross-Mot. Summ. J. ("Defs.' Cross-Mot."), ECF No. 15. For the reasons explained below, the Koi Nation's motion is granted, and the defendants' motion is denied.

I. BACKGROUND

The Koi Nation, known until a name change in 2012 as the "Lower Lake Rancheria," is a landless, federally recognized Indian tribe headquartered in Santa Rosa, California. Administrative Record ("AR") at 1, 3, 4 (Decision Letter (Jan. 19, 2017) ("DOI 2017 Decision") at 1, 3, 4); AR at 326 n.1 (Letter from Koi Nation to DOI's Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs (Apr. 28, 2014) ("Koi 2014 Request Letter") at 1 n.1).¹ Starting in approximately 1956, the United States improperly ignored and mistakenly treated as terminated the Koi Nation's status as a federally recognized tribe. AR at 3–4 (DOI 2017 Decision at 3–4). The Koi Nation has been without a land base or reservation since that time. AR at 3 (DOI 2017 Decision at 3).

After decades of improperly denying the Koi Nation's status as a federally recognized tribe, DOI "sought to correct its error," AR at 4 (DOI 2017 Decision at 4), and, on December 29, 2000, DOI's Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs reaffirmed the tribe's status as a federally recognized tribe, id. ; see also AR at 291 (Letter from DOI's Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Kevin Gover to Daniel Beltran, Chairman, Lower Lake Rancheria (Dec. 29, 2000) ("DOI 2000 Recognition Letter") ); AR at 293 (Memorandum from DOI's Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Kevin Gover to Bureau of Indian Affairs ("BIA") Regional Directors of Pacific and Alaska Regions (Dec. 29, 2000) ("DOI 2000 Recognition Memo") at 4). After reaffirmation in 2000 of the tribe's status, however, the tribe has not generated the revenues necessary to acquire lands in California. See Pl.'s Mem. Supp. Mot. Summ. J. ("Pl.'s Mem.") at 5, ECF No. 14-1; see also, e.g. , AR at 500–01 (Letter from Koi Nation to DOI's Secretary (Mar. 29, 2006) ("Koi Mar. 29, 2006 Request Letter") at 1–2). As a result, for almost fifteen years, the Koi Nation has sought to improve the economic viability of the tribe by conducting gaming activities under IGRA and, as a first step in this process, requesting from DOI on at least three occasions, in 2006, 2009 and 2014, a determination that the tribe qualifies for the restored lands exception, under which certain gaming is permitted on lands taken into trust as part of "the restoration of lands for an Indian tribe that is restored to Federal recognition." 25 U.S.C. § 2719(b)(1)(B)(iii) ; see also AR at 500–01 (Koi Mar. 29, 2006 Request Letter at 1–2); AR at 492 (Koi Nation's 2009 Request to DOI for Restored Tribe Determination (Oct. 7, 2009) ("Koi 2009 Request") at 1); AR at 326 (Koi 2014 Request Letter at 1).

The Koi Nation finally received a response to the tribe's multiple requests for a determination on January 19, 2017, when DOI issued the decision challenged in this lawsuit, concluding that the tribe is not eligible to game on lands under IGRA's restored lands exception, in reliance on DOI's implementing regulation, codified at 25 C.F.R. § 292.10. AR at 1–2 (DOI 2017 Decision at 1–2). The Koi Nation now challenges the validity of DOI's 2017 Decision, id. , and the subsection of the regulation, 25 C.F.R. § 292.10(b), on which that agency decision relies.

The Koi Nation's claims involve a complex statutory and administrative framework, as well as a lengthy history of interactions between DOI and the tribe. This context is summarized below.

A. STATUTORY AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

The parties' dispute over DOI's 2017 Decision implicates several statutes, including IGRA, the IRA, and the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 ("List Act"), and various implementing regulations, all of which are reviewed below.

1. The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA)

IGRA, 25 U.S.C. §§ 2701 et seq. , was enacted in 1988 "to provide a statutory basis for the operation of gaming by Indian tribes as a means of promoting tribal economic development, self-sufficiency, and strong tribal governments," id. § 2702(1), and, at the same time, "to shield [Indian tribes] from organized crime and other corrupting influences, to ensure that the Indian tribe is the primary beneficiary of the gaming operation, and to assure that gaming is conducted fairly and honestly by both the operator and players," id. § 2702(2). To these ends, IGRA established the National Indian Gaming Commission ("NIGC"), with certain enumerated powers and responsibilities. Id. §§ 2704–2706.

IGRA provides that Indian tribes may conduct "Class II" and "Class III" gaming activities only on eligible "Indian lands." Id. §§ 2710(b)(1), (d)(1). Section 20(a) of IGRA, id. § 2719(a), specifically makes ineligible for such activities "Indian land taken into trust by the Secretary after IGRA's effective date, October 17, 1988, unless the land borders an existing reservation or is within the last recognized reservation of a tribe that was landless at the time IGRA was enacted (unless the tribe is in Oklahoma, in which case lands bordering its former reservation are exempted as well)," City of Roseville , 348 F.3d at 1024 (summarizing 25 U.S.C. § 2719(a) ).

This gaming prohibition in § 20(a) is subject to two categories of exceptions in § 20(b) ("Section 20 exceptions"). "The first, § 20(b)(1)(A), allows the Secretary of the Interior to override § 20(a) and permit gaming on a newly acquired parcel when, ‘after consultation with the Indian tribe and appropriate State and local officials’ the Secretary ‘determines that a gaming establishment ... would be in the best interest of the Indian tribe and its members, and would not be detrimental to the surrounding community, but only if the Governor of the State ... concurs....’ " Id. (quoting 25 U.S.C. § 2719(b)(1)(A) ). Alternatively, "[t]he second, § 20(b)(1)(B), exempts lands taken into trust as part of the ‘settlement of a land claim,’ ‘the initial reservation of an Indian tribe acknowledged by the Secretary,’ " id. (quoting 25 U.S.C. §§ 2719(b)(1)(B)(i), (b)(1)(B)(ii) ), or, as relevant here, "the ‘restoration of lands for an Indian tribe that is restored to federal recognition,’ " id. (quoting 25 U.S.C. § 2719(b)(1)(B)(iii) ). This final exception, known as the "restored lands" exception, see 25 C.F.R. § 292.7, "helps ensure ‘that tribes lacking reservations when [the statute] was enacted are not disadvantaged relative to more established ones,’ " Butte Cty. v. Chaudhuri ("Chaudhuri "), 887 F.3d 501, 503 (D.C. Cir. 2018) (quoting City of Roseville , 348 F.3d at 1030 ).

2. Relevant IGRA Implementing Regulations, 25 C.F.R. Part 292

In 2008, DOI promulgated regulations, at 25 C.F.R. § 292, to "implement section 2719 of IGRA by articulating standards that the Department will follow in interpreting the various exceptions" to IGRA's general prohibition on gaming on after-acquired lands. Final Rule, Gaming on Trust Lands Acquired After October 17, 1988, 73 Fed. Reg. 29354, 29354 (May 20, 2008) ("Section 20 Final Rule"); see also 25 C.F.R. § 292.1 ("This part contains procedures that the Department of the Interior will use to determine whether [IGRA's Section 20] exceptions apply."). The Part 292 regulations included implementation of IGRA's restored lands exception. See 25 C.F.R. §§ 292.7 – 292.12 (providing DOI's procedures for implementing the restored lands exception).

Qualification for the restored lands exception involves a multi-part analysis, focusing on whether a tribe is one that is "restored to Federal recognition," and whether newly acquired lands on which that tribe seeks to conduct gaming are "restored" lands. See 25 C.F.R. § 292.7. Under 25 C.F.R. § 292.7, a tribe must meet four conditions to qualify for the restored...