Oneida Nation v. Village of Hobart, Wisconsin

Decision Date28 March 2019
Docket NumberCase No. 16-C-1217
Citation371 F.Supp.3d 500
Parties ONEIDA NATION, Plaintiff, v. VILLAGE OF HOBART, WISCONSIN, Defendant.
CourtU.S. District Court — Eastern District of Wisconsin

James R. Bittorf, Kelly M. McAndrews, Oneida Law Office, Oneida, WI, Jessica C. Mederson, Paul R. Jacquart, Hansen Reynolds LLC, Milwaukee, WI, Vanya S. Hogen, William A. Szotkowski, Hogen Adams PLLC, St Paul, Minnesota, Arlinda F. Locklear, Arlinda F. Locklear, Esquire, Washington, DC, for Plaintiff.

Christopher T. Koehnke, Derek J. Waterstreet, Joseph M. Russell, Matthew J. Thome, von Briesen & Roper SC, Milwaukee, WI, Frank W. Kowalkowski, von Briesen & Roper SC, Green Bay, WI, for Defendant.

DECISION AND ORDER

William C. Griesbach, Chief JudgeThis case represents another episode in the ongoing dispute between the Oneida Nation and the Village of Hobart over land use regulation and control. The Oneida Nation filed this action for declaratory and injunctive relief challenging the legal authority of the Village to enforce its Special Events Permit Ordinance, Chapter 250 of the Village Code, against the Nation, its officers, and its employees within the Village, which lies entirely within the 1838 boundaries of the Oneida Reservation. The action arises out of the Village's effort to enforce the Ordinance by requiring the Nation to obtain a permit for its annual Big Apple Fest. The Nation argues that as a federally recognized Indian tribe, it is immune from state and local regulations within its reservation and not subject to the Ordinance. The Village, on the other hand, challenges the Nation's claim that the boundaries of the original Oneida Reservation remain intact and contends that it is entitled to enforce the Ordinance to the extent necessary to protect the health, safety, and welfare of its residents and the public. This court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1362.

Presently before the court are the parties' cross-motions for summary judgment. The Nation moves for summary judgment, claiming that its reservation was created by its Treaty of February 3, 1838, with the United States and that the original Reservation boundaries remain intact. It thus follows, the Nation contends, that the Nation and its officials and employees are not subject to the Ordinance as a matter of law and the Village should be enjoined from attempting to enforce it against them. The Village filed a cross-motion for summary judgment in which it argues that the 1838 Treaty under which the Oneida received their land did not create a reservation. Even if the Treaty did create a reservation, the Village argues that a 1933 decision by this court held that the Oneida Reservation was disestablished and that the Nation is collaterally estopped from relitigating its status. Alternatively, the Village argues that, even aside from the 1933 decision, this court should find that the Oneida Reservation has been disestablished or, at a minimum, diminished. The United States filed a brief in support of the Nation as amicus curiae. The motions have been fully briefed and argued by the parties.

Having fully considered the arguments set forth, I conclude that the Treaty of 1838 created a reservation that has not been disestablished. But the Nation's reservation has been diminished such that the Village may enforce the Ordinance on those lands not held in trust by the United States for the benefit of the Nation. In addition, I conclude that the Nation's sovereign immunity forecloses the Village's counterclaim for monetary damages. Accordingly, and for the reasons set forth below, the Nation's motion will be only partially granted as to the Village's counterclaim for damages. The Village's motion for summary judgment dismissing the Nation's claims for declaratory and injunctive relief will be granted. Summary judgment on the Village's counterclaim for declaratory relief that the Ordinance may be enforced as to covered activities on fee land owned by the Nation, as well as activities on public roadways, rights-of-way, and neighboring properties is also granted.

BACKGROUND
A. The Present Dispute

The Nation is a federally-recognized Indian tribe and is listed in the Notice of the Indian Entities Recognized and Eligible to Receive Services from the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs. Joint Stipulated Statement of Material Fact (SSOMF) ¶ 1, ECF No. 86; Pl.'s Statement of Proposed Undisputed Material Facts (PSUMF) ¶ 1, ECF No. 93. The Village is an incorporated municipality in Brown County, Wisconsin and is located wholly within the boundaries of the area set aside for the Nation by the Treaty of February 3, 1838. SSOMF ¶ 2; PSUMF ¶ 2. According to U.S. Census Bureau population estimates, as of July 1, 2017, the total Village population was 8,896, of which "White alone" residents comprise 79.9% and "American Indian and Alaska Native alone" comprise 12.2%. Def.'s Statement of Proposed Undisputed Material Facts (DSUMF) ¶ 127, ECF No. 91.

The Nation has conducted an annual event known as the Big Apple Fest since 2009. PSUMF ¶ 52. The event is held on the Nation's Cultural Heritage Grounds and Apple Orchards and includes activities such as apple picking, an apple pie contest, an apple press demonstration, a petting zoo, children's games, face painting, cardboard cow painting, hay rides, horse demonstrations, pottery and corn husk doll making, basket weaving, Indian and non-Indian food and produce vendors, and tours of the preserved historic Oneida homes. Id. ¶ 53. The 2016 Apple Fest drew as many as 8,128 attendees to the event. DSUMF ¶ 140.

Richard Figueroa, the Nation's Special Events Coordinator in the Tourism Division, is responsible for planning the Big Apple Fest. Figueroa coordinates the event with the Oneida Compliance Division, the Oneida Risk Management Department, the Oneida Environmental Health and Safety Division, Oneida Conservation, the Oneida Utilities Department, the Oneida Public Works Department, Oneida Security, and the Oneida Police Department to ensure compliance with the Nation's laws. PSUMF ¶ 56. The Nation conducts the Big Apple Fest in conformity with its laws, specifically the Emergency Management and Homeland Security Ordinance; the Oneida Safety Law; the Oneida Vendor Licensing Ordinance; the Oneida Food Service Code; the Nation's On-Site Waste Disposal Ordinance; the Recycling and Solid Waste Disposal Law; the Sanitation Ordinance; and Oneida Tribal Regulation of Domestic Animals Ordinance. Id. ¶ 55.

On March 1, 2016, the Village adopted amended Ordinance No. 03-2016, Special Events Permit Ordinance. Id. ¶ 17; Chapter 250, Village of Hobart Municipal Code, ECF No. 86-1. The Ordinance provides:

No person shall conduct a special event within the Village of Hobart without first having obtained a rental and/or special event permit. A special event permit may be issued to any person that the Village Administrator or his/her designee find appropriate.

ECF No. 86-1 at 3. The Ordinance defines "person" as "[a]ny person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, company, governmental entity, or organization of any kind." Id.

On September 2, 2016, counsel for the Village informed the Nation that it needed to apply for a permit under the Ordinance or the Village would enforce the Ordinance's penalty provisions. SSOMF ¶ 18. Although it submitted an Application by Municipality for Permission to Detour State Trunk Highway Traffic to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and Brown County Public Works Director, id. ¶ 20, the Nation declined to apply for a permit from the Village and, on September 9, 2016, filed a motion for a preliminary injunction seeking to enjoin the Village from requiring that the Nation's 2016 Big Apple Fest comply with the provisions of the Ordinance. The court denied the Nation's motion on September 13, 2016, finding that the Nation did not demonstrate that it would suffer irreparable harm since the Village agreed it would not seek to prevent the event from going on. The Nation held the Big Apple Fest as planned on September 17, 2016. Id. ¶ 19.

Some activities associated with the 2016 Big Apple Fest occurred on non-trust land owned by the Nation in fee simple, including parking and apple picking. DSUMF ¶ 134. During the Apple Fest, security officers, six Oneida Nation police officers, and a registered nurse were on site. PSUMF ¶¶ 58, 60. Two officers of the Hobart-Lawrence Police Department attended the 2016 Big Apple Fest. SSOMF ¶ 22. The Nation contracted with a third-party vendor to place road closure barricades for the event at the intersection of North Overland Road and Riverside Drive and to block both lanes of traffic for the portion of North Overland Road between the North Overland Road/Highway 54 intersection. DSUMF ¶¶ 135–36.

On September 21, 2016, the Village's Chief of Police issued Citation No. 7R80F51TJS against the Nation for failing to act in accordance with the Ordinance. The Nation filed an amended complaint on September 28, 2016, asserting that it, its officials, and its employees are immune from the Ordinance in the conduct of special events on the Nation's trust land and Reservation and that the Village lacks the authority to enforce the Ordinance against the Nation, its officials, and its employees. It seeks to enjoin the Village's attempt to impose the Ordinance on the Nation, its officials, and its employees and to enforce the Ordinance through citation or municipal court proceedings. It also seeks to enjoin the Village from enforcing Citation No. 7R80F51TJS against the Nation.

While the present dispute between the parties arises out of these recent events, its resolution requires consideration of the Nation's history in Wisconsin and the various shifts in federal Indian policy in the United States over the last 150 years. For this reason, both parties sought a significant period of time for discovery and have submitted extensive documentation and briefing in support...

To continue reading

Request your trial
7 cases
  • Little Traverse Bay Band Indians v. Whitmer
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Western District of Michigan
    • August 15, 2019
    ...have applied the John test when interpreting a treaty to assess whether a reservation was created. See Oneida Nation v. Village of Hobart , 371 F. Supp. 3d 500, 509 (E.D. Wis. 2019). Accordingly, when interpreting the 1855 Treaty in historical context, and with an eye toward what the Indian......
  • Starboard With Cheese, LLC v. BarryView, Inc.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Central District of Illinois
    • August 21, 2023
    ... ... Oneida Nation v. Vill. of Hobart, Wis., 371 F.Supp ... 3d ... ...
  • Sharp v. Trs. of the Umwa 1974 Pension Trust, Case No. 18-cv-03056
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Central District of Illinois
    • February 27, 2020
    ..."construe all inferences in favor of the party against whom the motion under consideration is made." Oneida Nation v. Vill. of Hobart, Wis., 371 F. Supp. 3d 500, 508 (E.D. Wis. 2019) (quoting Metro. Life Ins. Co. v. Johnson, 297 F.3d 558, 561–62 (7th Cir. 2002) ).V. ANALYSIS Pursuant to 29 ......
  • Cheli v. Taylorville CUSD #3
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Central District of Illinois
    • February 17, 2023
    ...all inferences in favor of the party against whom the motion under consideration is made.” Oneida Nation v. Vill. of Hobart, Wis., 371 F.Supp.3d 500, 508 (E.D. Wis. 2019) (quoting Metro. Life Ins. Co. v. Johnson, 297 F.3d 558, 561-62 (7th Cir. 2002)). IV. ANALYSIS A. Whether Plaintiff is su......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT