Red Lake Band v. U.S. Dept. of Interior

• Decision Date: 19 March 2009
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 06-1826 (CKK).
• Citation: 624 F.Supp.2d 1
• Parties: RED LAKE BAND OF CHIPPEWA INDIANS, Plaintiff, v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF the INTERIOR, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

Page 1

624 F.Supp.2d 1

RED LAKE BAND OF CHIPPEWA INDIANS, Plaintiff, v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF the INTERIOR, et al., Defendants.

Civil Action No. 06-1826 (CKK).

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

March 19, 2009.

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COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Philip Merle Baker-Shenk, Steven D. Gordon, Holland & Knight, LLP, Washington, DC, for Plaintiff.

Reginald T. Blades, Jr., U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

COLLEEN KOLLAR-KOTELLY, District Judge.

Plaintiff Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians ("Plaintiff" or the "Tribe") filed the instant lawsuit against Defendants, the United States Department of Interior ("Department") and Ken Salazar in his official capacity as Secretary of the Department¹ ("Secretary," collectively with the Department, "Defendants"), alleging that Defendants breached provisions of the parties' Compact of Self-Governance and accompanying agreements entered into pursuant to the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, 25 U.S.C. § 450, et seq. ("ISDEAA" or the "Act"). Specifically, Plaintiff alleges that Defendants failed to obtain, assist Plaintiff in obtaining, and/or request funding for the Tribe's new juvenile correction facility in breach of the parties' agreement. In addition, Plaintiff claims that Defendants failed to notify the Tribe of the availability of year-end funding in breach of the parties' agreement. Finally, Plaintiff alleges that Defendants failed to timely provide Plaintiff with certain "pay cost" analyses and also failed to provide the Tribe with the full amount of pay cost increases as required under the terms of the parties' contract.

Currently pending before the Court are Plaintiff's [16] Motion for Summary Judgment on Counts I and III and for Partial Summary Judgment as to Count II and Defendants' [17] Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment as to Counts I-IV. After thoroughly reviewing all of the parties' submissions, including the attachments thereto, applicable case law, statutory authority, and the record of the case as a whole, the Court shall GRANT-IN-PART and DENY-IN-PART Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment and shall GRANT-IN-PART and DENY-IN-PART Defendants' Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment. Specifically, the Court shall GRANT Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment as to Count III, but shall DENY Plaintiff's Motion for Summary as to Counts I and II, and shall GRANT Defendants' Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment as to Count II, but shall DENY Defendants' Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment as to Counts I, III, and IV, for the reasons that follow.

I. BACKGROUND

A. The ISDEAA

The purpose of the ISDEAA, 25 U.S.C. § 450 et seq., is to "assure maximum participation by Indian tribes in the planning and administration of federal services, programs and activities for Indian communities." S.Rep. No. 100-274 at 1 (1988), reprinted at 1988 U.S.C.C.A.N 2620, 2620. Accordingly, the ISDEAA authorizes federal agencies, such as the Department, to enter into contracts with Indian tribes in which the tribes promise to supply federally funded services, for example tribal law enforcement services, that a federal agency would otherwise provide. Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma v. Leavitt, 543 U.S. 631, 634, 125 S.Ct. 1172, 161 L.Ed.2d 66 (2005). "More specifically, under the [IDSEAA], the [Secretary] continue[s] to provide direct services to a tribe until such time as the tribe chooses to enter into a `self-determination contract' to operate those services. At that point, the [Secretary] [is] required to transfer resources and control of those programs to the tribe." Ramah Navajo Chapter v. Lujan, 112 F.3d 1455, 1456 (10th Cir.1997). The Act is thus intended, in part, to also "remov[e] the financial burden incurred by tribes and tribal organizations when implementing federal programs under self-determination contracts." Samish Indian Nation v. United States, 419 F.3d 1355, 1367 (Fed. Cir.2005).

B. The Parties and their Contract

Plaintiff is a federally recognized Indian tribe. Pl.'s Stmt. ¶ 1.² Secretary Salazar has overall responsibility for administering the Department as well as overseeing its constituent agencies, including the Bureau of Indian Affairs ("BIA") and managing certain Indian affairs and appropriations. Id. ¶ 2. The Office of Self-Governance ("OSG") is the office within the Department responsible for administering the Secretary's tribal self-governance program, including BIA programs. Id. ¶ 3.

On or about January 14, 1997, Plaintiff and the Department entered into a Compact of Self-Governance ("Compact") pursuant to the ISDEAA. Id. ¶ 5; Defs.' Stmt. ¶ 1. The Compact enabled the Tribe to "plan, conduct, and administer programs and services to the extent as provided in the annual funding agreement." Defs.' Stmt. ¶ 1. This goal is reflected in the text of the Compact itself, which provides that the Compact is intended to:

[C]arry out Self-Governance as authorized by [the ISDEAA], which ... transfers control to tribal governments, upon tribal request, over funding and decision making of Federal programs, services, functions and activities as an effective way to implement the federal policy of government-to-government relations with Indian tribes.

Pl.'s Mot., Ex. A (Compact), Art. I § 2(a).

In addition, as is relevant here, the Compact includes a provision, entitled "funding amount," which provides that:

Subject only to the appropriation of funds by the Congress of the United States ..., the Secretary or an authorized representative shall provide to the Tribe the total amount specified in the Annual Agreement incorporated by reference....

Id.

On or about November 15, 2004, pursuant to the Compact, Plaintiff and Defendants entered into a Multi-Year Funding Agreement ("Agreement") for 2005-2010. Pl.'s Stmt. ¶ 10; Defs.' Resp. ¶ 10. The Agreement is amended annually by the parties pursuant to a "reprogramming request," and provides that "[t]he Tribe assumes all operational responsibility for all programs, functions, services, and activities as reflected in the REPROGRAMMING REQUEST ...." Pl.'s Stmt. ¶¶ 10-11; Defs.' Resp. ¶ 10-11; Pl.'s Mot., Ex. B (Agreement and 2005 Reprogramming Request). At issue are the parties' 2005 and 2006 reprogramming requests, which are discussed below.

1. 2005 Reprogramming Request

Count I of Plaintiff's Complaint involves the reprogramming request for the year 2005, entitled the 2005 Annual Funding Agreement—Reprogramming Request ("2005 Reprogramming Request"), which is attached to the Agreement. Pl.'s Stmt. ¶ 10; Defs.' Resp. ¶ 10; Pl.'s Mot. Ex. B (Agreement and 2005 Reprogramming Request); see also Compl. ¶¶ 48-52. Subject to the terms of the Compact and Agreement, the 2005 Reprogramming Request generally sets forth the funds to be provided in 2005 by the United States to the Tribe for the provision of the agreed upon services. Pl.'s Stmt. ¶ 10; Defs.' Resp. ¶ 10; Pl.'s Mot., Ex. B (Agreement and 2005 Reprogramming Request). Specifically, the 2005 Reprogramming Request sets forth by line item and program title the parties' agreement as to the funds to be provided. See Pl.'s Stmt. ¶ 14; Defs.' Resp. ¶ 14; see also Pl.'s Mot., Ex. B (Agreement and 2005 Reprogramming Request).

The heart of Plaintiff's claims as to the 2005 Reprogramming Request is line item no. 177 of the 2005 Reprogramming Request, see Compl. ¶¶ 48-52, which provides as follows:

                -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                  Info      OSG    OSG         OSG         BIA
                         Program        Cost      (Tribal   Cum.   Shortfall   Shortfall   Reprogram   Total
                Line #   Title          Code      Share)    Base   Base        Request     Request     AFA        FN
                -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                177      Law            37700         0         0      5,283       0           4,576,753    4,582,036   25
                         Enforcement—
                         NON TPA
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                

Pl.'s Mot., Ex. B (Agreement and 2005 Reprogramming Request), at 10. As indicated in the last column, line item no. 177 also contains a footnote, specifically footnote no. 25, which in turn provides, inter alia, that:

The BIA agrees to assist the Tribe in obtaining $1,218,482 for operations funding for the Tribes [sic] juvenile correction facility³ in CY 2005, and to request this amount in the next Presidents [sic] budget.

Pl.'s Stmt. ¶ 16; Pl.'s Mot., Ex. B (Agreement and 2005 Reprogramming Request), at 14. According to Plaintiff, line item no. 177, together with footnote 25, obligated Defendants to do two things: (1) to obtain $1,218,482 in funding for the Tribe's juvenile correction center in calendar year ("CY") 2005, or, in the alternative, to assist the Tribe in obtaining such funding; and (2) to request this same amount of funding in the next President's budget. Pl.'s Compl. ¶¶ 48-52.

As to Plaintiff's first allegation, it is undisputed that the Tribe did not receive $1,218,482 in CY 2005 operations funding for the juvenile correction center. Pl.'s Stmt. ¶ 17. Moreover, BIA officials testified that BIA did not provide any assistance to the Tribe in obtaining the specified funding. Specifically, the head of BIA's Office of Justice Services, Christopher Chaney, testified that BIA did not provide any assistance to the Tribe in obtaining staffing and program operations funding for the juvenile correction facility in CY 2005. Id. ¶ 18. In addition, Patrick Ragsdale, the Director of BIA, testified that he was not aware of any efforts by BIA to obtain staffing and program operations funding in CY 2005 for the facility in question. Id. ¶ 19. Finally, Kenneth Feinfeld the Acting Director of the OSG and the person who executed the 2005 Reprogramming Request on behalf of the United...