Macarthur v. San Juan County
| Citation | 497 F.3d 1057 |
| Decision Date | 18 July 2007 |
| Docket Number | No. 05-4295.,No. 05-4310.,05-4295.,05-4310. |
| Parties | Steven MacARTHUR; Nathaniel Penn; Michelle Lyman; Helen Valdez; Candace Laws; Linda Cacapardo; Sue Burton; Amy Terlaak; Candace Holiday, Nicole Roberts, Plaintiffs, and Alison Dickson; Donna Singer; Fred Riggs, Plaintiffs-Appellants/Cross-Appellees, v. SAN JUAN COUNTY; San Juan Health Services District; J. Tyron Lewis, Commissioner; Bill Redd, Commissioner; Craig Halls; Reid M. Wood; Cleal Bradford; Roger Atcitty; John Lewis; John Housekeeper; Karen Adams; Patsy Shumway; James D. Redd; L. Val Jones; Manfred R. Nelson; Richard Bailey; Marilee Bailey; Ora Lee Black; Gary Holladay; Lori Wallace, also known as Laurie Walker; St. Paul's Insurance; Carla Grimshaw; Gloria Yanito; Julie Bronson; R. Dennis Ickes; Laurie Schafer; Lyn Stevens, San Juan County Commissioner; Manuel Morgan, San Juan County Commissioner; Nettie Prack; Glen Imel, Defendants-Appellees/Cross-Appellants. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (10th Circuit) |
Susan Rose, Sandy, UT, for Plaintiffs-Appellants/Cross-Appellees.
Carolyn Cox (and Blaine J. Benard, with her on the brief), Holme, Roberts & Owen, L.L.P., Salt Lake City, UT, for Defendants-Appellees/Cross-Appellants San Juan Health Services District, Reid Wood, and Lauren Schafer.
Jesse C. Trentadue, (Michael W. Homer with him on the brief), Suitter Axland, Salt Lake City, UT, for Defendants-Appellees/Cross-Appellants San Juan County, J. Tyron Lewis, Bill Redd, Craig Halls, and Richard Bailey.
Before KELLY, EBEL, and McCONNELL, Circuit Judges.
Plaintiffs in this case seek enforcement of several preliminary injunction orders issued by a court of the Navajo Nation. Although the decision to enforce a nonfinal tribal court judgment is a matter of discretion, federal courts will ordinarily err on the side of enforcement of such judgments in the name of comity. We will not enforce a tribal court judgment, however, when the tribal court lacked subject matter jurisdiction. In the realm of tribal court jurisdiction, the regulatory authority of the tribe is often the issue which looms largest, and this case is no exception. Among other things, these appeals require us to examine the regulatory authority of the Navajo Nation over the activities of a nonmember of the tribe when the regulated entity is another independent sovereign acting in its governmental capacity.
Plaintiffs-Appellants Donna Singer, Fred Riggs, and Alison Dickson (collectively "Plaintiffs") appeal the federal district court's refusal to enforce three preliminary injunction orders issued by a Navajo district court against San Juan County, San Juan Health Services District ("SJHSD"), and numerous employees of those entities (collectively "Defendants"). Although the district court's judgment was ultimately in their favor, SJHSD and certain of its employees involved in the litigation also cross-appeal from the district court's judgment that the Navajo Nation possessed civil jurisdiction over several of the claims asserted against SJHSD, Roger Atcitty, and Reid Wood. In its opinion below, the district court explained that it would not enforce the preliminary injunction orders because, inter alia, the Navajo Nation lacks regulatory authority over many of the Defendants, the preliminary injunction is interlocutory in nature, much of the preliminary injunction is now moot, and Defendants are nearly all entitled to sovereign immunity. See MacArthur v. San Juan County, 391 F.Supp.2d 895, 1056-57 (D.Utah 2005). Our jurisdiction arises under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we reverse the district court insofar as it held that the Navajo Nation possessed regulatory and adjudicative authority over Plaintiffs' employment-related claims against SJHSD and Mr. Riggs's defamation claim against Reid Wood. We do, however, ultimately affirm the district court's judgment refusing to enforce the tribal court's preliminary injunction orders.
Because Plaintiffs do not appear to challenge the federal district court's factual recitation, we rely primarily on its version of the facts. Donna Singer, Fred Riggs, and Alison Dickson brought suit against San Juan County, SJHSD, and several employees of those entities in Navajo district court in August 2000. The specific defendants in that case relevant to these appeals were as follows: San Juan County Utah; SJHSD; San Juan County Commissioners J. Tyron Lewis and Bill Redd, in their individual and official capacities; San Juan County Attorney Craig Halls, in his individual and official capacity; San Juan County Administrator Richard Bailey, in his individual and official capacity; Roger Atcitty, John Lewis, and Karen Adams, members of SJHSD's Board of Trustees, in their individual and official capacities; Patsy Shumway, member of SJHSD's Board of Trustees, in her official capacity only; Reid Wood, SJHSD's Chief Executive Officer, in his individual and official capacity; and Lauren Shafer, SJHSD's Personnel Director of Nursing, in her individual and official capacity.
SJHSD is a special service district organized pursuant to Utah Code § 17A-2-1304 (1999), and is tasked with providing health care services to the citizens of San Juan County, Utah. At all relevant times, SJHSD operated the Montezuma Creek Health Clinic ("the Clinic"), which is located in San Juan County and within the exterior boundaries of the Navajo Nation. The record indicates that the land on which the Clinic is located is fee land owned by the State of Utah as part of the Navajo Trust Fund. SJHSD relinquished operation of the Clinic as of January 1, 2000, at which time Utah Navajo Health Systems, an entity affiliated with the Navajo tribe, took over operation.
Ms. Singer is the non-Indian spouse of an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation. She lives outside, but near, the Navajo reservation. Ms. Singer was employed as the manager of the Clinic from 1995 until her termination in December 1998. In the Navajo district court, Ms. Singer alleged that although she was an exempt employee, she was required to keep time cards, allegedly in violation of SJHSD policies. She claimed that on November 13, 1998, a mistake was made on her time card but that she promptly provided a written explanation for the error. Shortly thereafter, she was handed a memorandum by Reid Wood, CEO of SJHSD, referring to allegations of time card fraud and informing her that she was being placed on administrative leave. A second memorandum from Mr. Wood accused her of employment-related misconduct — namely that the number of hours worked, as reflected on her time cards, was inflated — and notified her of the scheduling of a pre-disciplinary hearing. Following a meeting with Ms. Singer on December 4, 1998, Mr. Wood prepared yet another memorandum to her, dated December 7, explaining that due to the inconsistencies in her time cards, she was being terminated. Ms. Singer later filed a complaint with the Office of Navajo Labor Relations ("ONLR") seeking reinstatement. Eventually, Ms. Singer was rehired at the Clinic after its operation was handed over to Utah Navajo Health Systems.
Mr. Riggs is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides within the exterior boundaries of the Navajo reservation in New Mexico. SJHSD terminated his employment on November 4, 1998 as part of a reduction in force, but immediately rehired him in a lesser position and at a lesser rate of pay on the condition that he keep time cards. According to Mr. Riggs, he was unaware that on his very first time card he underreported the number of hours of leave taken. As with Ms. Singer, Mr. Wood advised Mr. Riggs in writing that he was accused of time card fraud and placed Mr. Riggs on paid administrative leave. Mr. Riggs likewise had a pre-disciplinary hearing with Mr. Wood on December 4, 1998, but, unlike Ms. Singer, who was terminated, Mr. Wood placed Mr. Riggs on probation for thirty days. Mr. Riggs alleges, however, that he was kept on probation longer than thirty days. On or about December 15, 1998, Mr. Riggs filed a grievance with SJHSD regarding Mr. Wood's disciplinary action, and on February 12, 1999, a grievance hearing was held (the record is unclear as to what the result of this hearing was), but Mr. Riggs avers that the grievance process was tainted by Mr. Wood's influence and lacked impartiality. Mr. Riggs also later filed a grievance with the ONLR. Mr. Riggs remained an employee of the Clinic after Utah Navajo Health Systems assumed operation.
Mr. Dickson, the third plaintiff, is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation residing within the exterior boundaries of the Navajo Reservation in Utah. Mr. Dickson was initially hired by SJHSD in March 1998 as a full-time, temporary office clerk. He applied for full-time, permanent employment in November or December of 1998 but was refused. Mr. Dickson claims that the refusal to make him a permanent employee violated internal SJHSD policies. He also alleges he was denied a hearing on his grievance. In the Navajo district court, Mr. Dickson also complained about racially insensitive and derogatory remarks allegedly made by Mr. Wood. Like Ms. Singer and Mr. Riggs, Mr. Dickson was permanently employed by Utah Navajo Health Systems at the Clinic after its takeover.
In their complaint filed in the Navajo district court, Plaintiffs asserted numerous claims arising primarily out of their employment at the Clinic. Those claims included the following: violation of the right to free speech as protected by the Navajo Nation, the United Nations, and the United States; violation of the right to freedom of assembly as protected by the Navajo Nation, the United Nations, and the United States; violation of the right to due process as protected by the Navajo Nation, the United Nations, and the United States; wrongful hiring; defamation and tortious interference with future contractual relations; theft; violation of the right to equal protection as protected by the Navajo Nation, the...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
UTE Indian Tribe of the Uintah v. Lawrence
...No. 110.) The court will, however, consider the Tribal Court's February 28 Opinion in its analysis below. See MacArthur v. San Juan Cty. , 497 F.3d 1057, 1066 (10th Cir. 2007) ("The decision whether to enforce non-final orders of a tribal court is left primarily to [the court's] discretion ......
-
Attorney's Process And Investigation Serv. Inc v. Sac & Fox Tribe Of The Miss. In Iowa
...governs a tribe's civil jurisdiction over nonmembers regardless of land ownership.”) (citation omitted); MacArthur v. San Juan County, 497 F.3d 1057, 1069-70 (10th Cir.2007). Because “efforts by a tribe to regulate nonmembers ... are presumptively invalid,” the Tribe bears the burden of sho......
-
Macarthur v. San Juan County
...(D.Utah), reconsideration denied, 405 F.Supp.2d 1302 (D.Utah 2005), judgment reversed in part, vacated in part, affirmed in part, 497 F.3d 1057 (10th Cir.2007), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 128 S.Ct. 1229, 170 L.Ed.2d 62 Ordinarily, the denial of certiorari signals the end of the appellate p......
-
The Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma v. Blue Tee Corp.
...sovereign powers of an Indian tribe generally do not permit a tribe to regulate the activities of non-members. MacArthur v. San Juan County, 497 F.3d 1057, 1070 (10th Cir.2007). The Supreme Court has placed limits on the power of an Indian tribe to regulate non-members, and these limitation......
-
TRIBAL EMPLOYMENT PREFERENCE AND EMPLOYEE PROTECTION LAWS
...with a member of the tribe" so long as employment is "within physical confines of the reservation." MacArthur v. San Juan Co., 497 F.3d 1057, 1071-72 (10th Cir. 2007). The procedural posture of MacArthur was complex; Plaintiffs were primarily members of the Navajo Nation who sued their empl......