Romanella v. Hayward
| Decision Date | 01 August 1996 |
| Docket Number | No. 3:95CV726(AHN).,3:95CV726(AHN). |
| Citation | 933 F. Supp. 163 |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Connecticut |
| Parties | Emilia ROMANELLA v. Richard HAYWARD, Richard Libby & The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation. |
Robert I. Reardon, Jr., Donald J. O'Brien, Angelo A. Ziotas, The Reardon Law Firm, P.C., New London, CT, for Plaintiff.
Elizabeth Conway, Brown, Jacobson, Tillinghast, Lahan and King, P.C., Norwich, CT, for Defendant.
RULING ON DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO DISMISS
In this diversity action, plaintiff Emilia Romanella ("Romanella") asserts a negligence cause of action against the defendants, Richard Hayward ("Hayward"), Richard Libby ("Libby"), and the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation (the "Tribe").
Currently before the court is the defendants' motion to dismiss the complaint pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1) for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.1 The defendants also argue that the doctrine of tribal sovereign immunity bars this action and thus move pursuant to Rule 12(c) for judgment on the pleadings.
For the following reasons, the defendants' Motion to Dismiss doc. # 16 is GRANTED and the action is DISMISSED in its entirety.
In deciding a Rule 12(b)(1) motion, the court construes the complaint broadly and liberally in conformity with the principle set out in Rule 8(f), Fed.R.Civ.P., "but argumentative inferences favorable to the pleader will not be drawn." 5A Charles A. Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1350, at 218-219 (1990 & Supp. 1991) (hereinafter "Wright & Miller"). The parties may use affidavits and other materials beyond the pleadings themselves to challenge or to support the court's subject matter jurisdiction. See Land v. Dollar, 330 U.S. 731, 735 n. 4, 67 S.Ct. 1009, 1011 n. 4, 91 L.Ed. 1209 (1947); Exchange Nat'l Bank of Chicago v. Touche Ross & Co., 544 F.2d 1126, 1130 (2d Cir.1976), cert. denied sub nom., 469 U.S. 884, 105 S.Ct. 253, 83 L.Ed.2d 190 (1984). Once challenged, the burden of establishing a federal court's subject matter jurisdiction rests on the party asserting jurisdiction. See Thomson v. Gaskill, 315 U.S. 442, 446, 62 S.Ct. 673, 675, 86 L.Ed. 951 (1942); Grafon Corp. v. Hausermann, 602 F.2d 781, 783 (7th Cir.1979).
Lack of subject matter jurisdiction may be asserted at any time by the parties or by the court sua sponte. See Rules 12(b)(1) and 12(h)(3), Fed.R.Civ.P.; Clark v. Paul Gray, Inc., 306 U.S. 583, 59 S.Ct. 744, 83 L.Ed. 1001 (1939); John B. Hull, Inc. v. Waterbury Petroleum Prods., Inc., 588 F.2d 24, 27 (2d Cir.1978), cert. denied, 440 U.S. 960, 99 S.Ct. 1502, 59 L.Ed.2d 773 (1979); 5A Wright & Miller, § 1350, at 202.
"After the pleadings are closed but within such time as not to delay the trial, any party may move for judgment on the pleadings." Rule 12(c), Fed.R.Civ.P. A court may enter a judgment on the pleadings where the material facts are undisputed and a judgment on the merits is possible merely by considering the pleadings' contents. See Sellers v. M.C. Floor Crafters, Inc., 842 F.2d 639, 642 (2d Cir.1988). The legal standards governing the court's consideration of a Rule 12(c) motion are the same as those standards governing its consideration of a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss. See George C. Frey Ready-Mixed Concrete, Inc. v. Pine Hill Concrete Mix Corp., 554 F.2d 551, 553 (2d Cir.1977). The court must accept as true the well-pleaded facts of the complaints and may not dismiss the action unless the court is convinced that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts which would entitle him to relief. See Dahlberg v. Becker, 748 F.2d 85, 88 (2d Cir.1984), cert. denied, 470 U.S. 1084, 105 S.Ct. 1845, 85 L.Ed.2d 144 (1985).
For the purpose of this motion, the court accepts the following factual allegations contained in the Second Amended Complaint doc. # 25 as true.
Romanella, a Rhode Island citizen, was employed as a pit cashier at the Foxwoods Resort & Casino. (See Second Am.Compl. at 3, ¶ 2.) On March 1, 1994, she finished her work and took a shuttle bus from the casino on the reservation to a parking area located adjacent to the reservation in the Town of Ledyard. (See id. at 3, ¶¶ 1-2.) After getting off the bus in the parking lot, Romanella walked to her car. (See id. at 3-4, ¶ 3.) While walking, she slipped and fell "as a result of the accumulation of snow and/or ice upon the surface" of the parking lot. (See id. at 4, ¶ 3.) Romanella was injured as a result of her fall. (See id.)
Romanella alleges that the Mashantucket Tribe is a federally recognized tribe that owns reservation and non-reservation lands in Ledyard, Connecticut. (See id. at 1-2, ¶ 1.) Although the parking lot is not part of the reservation, the Tribe "owns, operates, maintains, and controls" the parking lot. (See id. at 3, ¶ 1.)
Hayward and Libby are "members" of the Tribe and Connecticut citizens. (See id. at 2, ¶ 2.) Further, at the time of Romanella's accident, Hayward "was an officer" of the Tribe and "he and Libby were responsible for the maintenance" of the parking lot. (Id. at 3, ¶ 1.)
Under 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a), a district court has jurisdiction over matters in which the amount in controversy exceeds $50,000 and which are between citizens of different states, between citizens of one state and citizens of a foreign state, or in which a foreign state as a plaintiff sues a citizen of a state. 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a) (1988).
The defendants do not challenge whether Romanella has satisfied the amount in controversy requirement, and the court finds that she does. The court thus addresses the citizenship of the parties.
Romanella is a citizen of Rhode Island. As Tribe members residing in Connecticut, Hayward and Libby are citizens of Connecticut. See Iowa Mut. Ins. Co. v. LaPlante, 480 U.S. 9, 18 n. 10, 107 S.Ct. 971, 977 n. 10, 94 L.Ed.2d 10 (1987) (); Deere v. New York, 22 F.2d 851, 852 (N.D.N.Y.1927) (), rev'd on other grounds, Deere v. St. Lawrence River Power Co., 32 F.2d 550 (2d Cir.1929). See also Conn.Gen.Stat. § 47-59(a) () Accordingly, the court finds that Romanella has satisfied section 1332(a) as to Hayward and Libby.
As to the Tribe's citizenship, the Supreme Court long-ago held that an Indian tribe is not a foreign state. See Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 30 U.S. (5 Pet.) 1, 17-18, 8 L.Ed. 25 (1831) (). Consequently, this court may exercise diversity jurisdiction over this action only if the Tribe is a citizen of Connecticut.2
The parties dispute whether the Tribe is a citizen of Connecticut. Romanella argues that Oneida Indian Nation v. Oneida County, 464 F.2d 916 (2d Cir.1972), rev'd on other grounds, 414 U.S. 661, 94 S.Ct. 772, 39 L.Ed.2d 73 (1974), stands for the proposition that an Indian tribe is a citizen of the state in which the reservation lies. Thus, according to Romanella, because the Tribe's reservation is located in Connecticut, it is a citizen of Connecticut for diversity purposes. The defendants contend that Romanella has misread Oneida. They argue that Oneida stands for the proposition that a native American tribe is not a citizen of any state for diversity jurisdiction purposes and, therefore, cannot sue or be sued in federal court based on diversity jurisdiction.
In Oneida, the plaintiffs — the Oneida tribes of New York and Wisconsin — sued two New York counties in federal court alleging that the sale of tribal lands violated certain treaties. Rejecting the tribes' claim of federal question jurisdiction, the court examined the tribe's argument that diversity of citizenship existed. Impliedly accepting the tribe's argument that a native American tribe is a citizen of a state within the meaning of section 1332(a), the court focused on the citizenship of the Oneida Nation of New York and posited that the tribe "surely was not a citizen of a state different from New York." Oneida, 464 F.2d at 923. It thus concluded that "the Nation's lack of citizenship in a state other than New York ... defeated diversity jurisdiction." Id.
As defendants' counsel conceded at oral argument, the Oneida court's discussion is far from clear. Several courts, however, have cited Oneida as authority for the proposition that an Indian tribe is not a citizen of any state for diversity jurisdiction purposes and, therefore, that a tribe cannot sue or be sued in federal court based on diversity jurisdiction. See, e.g., Gaines v. Ski Apache, 8 F.3d 726, 729 (10th Cir.1993); Standing Rock Sioux Indian Tribe v. Dorgan, 505 F.2d 1135, 1140 (8th Cir.1974); Veeder v. Omaha Tribe of Nebraska, 864 F.Supp. 889, 898 (N.D.Iowa 1994); Calvello v. Yankton Sioux Tribe, 899 F.Supp. 431, 435 (D.S.D.1995). A leading treatise on Indian law also supports these courts' holdings. See Felix Cohen, Handbook on Indian Law, at 372 (reprint ed. 1988) hereinafter "Cohen, Handbook on Indian Law".
Romanella has not cited any authority supporting a contrary reading of Oneida. Nor has she cited any persuasive authority supporting her position that a native American tribe is a citizen of the state in which its reservation is located.
In short, the court concludes that a native American tribe is not a citizen of a state within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 1332 and may not sue or be sued in federal court under the court's diversity jurisdiction.
Even assuming that the Tribe is a citizen of Connecticut for diversity purposes, the court finds that the doctrine of tribal immunity bars this action as to all the defendants.
Native American tribes are "domestic dependent nations" that exercise inherent...
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