Shawnee Tribe v. U.S.

• Decision Date: 22 November 2002
• Docket Number: No. CIV. 02-1175(RJL).,CIV. 02-1175(RJL).
• Citation: 298 F.Supp.2d 21
• Parties: SHAWNEE TRIBE, Plaintiffs, v. UNITED STATES of America, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

298 F.Supp.2d 21

SHAWNEE TRIBE, Plaintiffs, v. UNITED STATES of America, et al., Defendants.

No. CIV. 02-1175(RJL).

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

November 22, 2002.

Marcella Burgess Giles, McLean, VA, for Plaintiffs.

Daniel G. Steele, United States Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources, Washington, DC, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM ORDER

LEON, District Judge.

The plaintiff, Shawnee Tribe ("Tribe"), has filed a complaint and motion for a preliminary injunction against various federal agencies and their administrators and officials, including the United States, the General Services Administration, the Department of Defense, the Department of Interior, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs ("the government").

At issue in the Tribe's suit is the disposal of the Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant ("SFAAP") property. The SFAAP, a 9,065 acre military reservation which is located approximately forty miles from Kansas City, Kansas, produced munitions for military use during the 1940s. Currently, the GSA has designated the SFAAP property as surplus property, subject to disposal. The Tribe argues that the SFAAP property is part of the Shawnee Reservation pursuant to various treaties, dating from the nineteenth century onward, between the Shawnee Tribe and the United States. As such, the Tribe argues that the property must be transferred to the DOI to be held in trust for the Tribe. According to the Tribe, however, the United States has refused to evaluate its claim to the SFAAP property and is planning instead to transfer the property to the general public. Notwithstanding the government's representations to the contrary, the Tribe believes this transfer to be imminent, and therefore requests that this Court enjoin the transfer or disposition of the SFAAP, other than to the DOI to be held in trust for the Tribe.

The government opposes the Tribe's request for a preliminary injunction and moves to transfer the case to the United States District Court for the District of Kansas. The government argues, in essence, that the interests of justice require the transfer of the case to Kansas, where the citizens, especially those in the county surrounding the SFAAP, have substantial interests in the outcome of the lawsuit. The government also argues that any decision regarding the disposal of the SFAAP property necessarily involves complex political, economic and governmental questions that are best resolved in the forum where the SFAAP is located. Finally, from the point of view of judicial efficiency, the government notes that the district court in Kansas has already exercised jurisdiction over the SFAAP as it evaluates a number of complex environmental issues regarding its cleanup.¹

Due to the substantial local interest in Kansas regarding the future use of the SFAAP property, the predominance of government action outside Washington, D.C., and the expertise of the Tenth Circuit courts in the analysis of Native American Indian treaties, the Court hereby GRANTS the government's motion to transfer venue to the United States District Court for the District of Kansas.

Transfer to the United States District Court for Kansas is Appropriate Under 28 U.S.C. § 1404

Motions to transfer are left to the discretion of the Court to adjudicate on an "`individualized, case-by-case consideration of convenience and fairness.'" See Stewart v. Ricoh Corp., 487 U.S. 22, 29, 108 S.Ct. 2239, 101 L.Ed.2d 22 (1988) (citing Van Dusen v. Barrack, 376 U.S. 612, 622, 84 S.Ct. 805, 11 L.Ed.2d 945 (1964)). The Court must balance a number of "case-specific" factors when determining whether or not transfer of the case is appropriate. Id. The burden is on the party requesting transfer—here, the government —to show that the "balance of convenience of the parties and witnesses and the interest of justice are in [its] favor." Armco Steel Co. v. CSX Corp., 790 F.Supp. 311, 323 (D.D.C.1991) (quoting Consolidated Metal Products Inc. v. American Petroleum Institute, 569 F.Supp. 773, 774 (D.D.C.1983)).

First, the Court must consider whether the government has satisfied the threshold requirement for transfer of actions to a different forum: whether the action might have been brought in the transferee forum in the first place. Section 1404(a) of 28 United States Code provides:

For the convenience of parties and witnesses, in the interest of justice, a district court may transfer any civil action to any other district or division where it might have been brought.

The Tribe does not contest the government's assertion that the instant action could have been brought in the District Court for Kansas. The instant action is based on federal question jurisdiction,² and therefore can be based in "a judicial district in which a substantial part of the events or the omissions giving rise to the claim occurred, or a substantial part of property that is the subject of the action is situated." 29 U.S.C. § 1391(b)(2). As the events which give rise to this lawsuit occurred in Kansas and the SFAAP is located in Kansas, the Court is satisfied that the government's request for transfer has satisfied the threshold requirement for transfer.

The more difficult question is whether the "balance of convenience" in transferring this case to Kansas weighs strongly in favor of the movants, therefore making transfer proper. See Gross v. Owen, 221 F.2d 94, 95 (D.C.Cir.1955). In Trout Unlimited v. United States Dep't of Agriculture, 944 F.Supp. 13, 17 (D.D.C.1996), Judge Ricardo Urbina of this District set forth a list of private and public factors,³ relevant when determining whether transfer is appropriate under Section 1404(a).

The private interest considerations include: (1) the plaintiff's choice of forum, unless the balance of convenience is strongly in favor of the defendants; (2) the defendant's choice of forum; (3) whether the claim arose elsewhere; (4) the convenience of the parties; (5) the convenience of the witnesses of the plaintiff and defendant, but only to the extent that the witnesses may actually be unavailable for trial in one of the fora; (6) the case of access to sources of proof.

The public interest considerations include: (1) the transferee's familiarity with the governing laws; (2) the relative congestion of the calendars of the potential transferee and transferor courts; (3) the local interest in deciding local controversies at home.

As the Tribe correctly asserts, a plaintiff's choice of forum is afforded great deference, and is a "paramount consideration" in any determination of a motion to transfer. Sheraton Operating Corp. v. Just Corporate Travel, 984 F.Supp. 22, 25 (D.D.C.1997). However, that choice is conferred less deference by the court when a plaintiff's choice of forum is not the plaintiff's home forum. See Piper Aircraft Co. v. Reyno, 454 U.S. 235, 102 S.Ct. 252, 70 L.Ed.2d 419 (1981). See also Thayer/Patricof Education Funding v. Pryor Resources Inc., 196 F.Supp.2d 21, 31 (D.D.C.2002)(explaining that plaintiff's choice of forum is "ordinarily afforded great deference, except where the plaintiff is a foreigner in that forum"); The Wilderness Society v. Babbitt, 104 F.Supp.2d 10, 12-13 (D.D.C.2000) (noting that plaintiff's choice of forum is entitled to less deference where there is an inadequate factual nexus between the chosen forum and the events in dispute); Trout Unlimited v. United States Dep't of Agriculture, 944 F.Supp. 13, 17 (D.D.C.1996) (noting that the showing a defendant must make in order to overcome the deference afforded to plaintiff's choice of forum "is lessened ... where ... transfer is sought to the forum with which plaintiffs have substantial ties and where the subject matter of the lawsuit is connected to that state."); Citizen Advocates for Responsible Expansion, Inc. v. Dole, 561 F.Supp. 1238, 1239 (D.D.C.1983) (finding that defendant's "burden is substantially diminished where ... transfer is sought to the forum where plaintiffs reside....").

Here, the government argues that because the District of Columbia is not the home forum of the Shawnee Tribe, the Tribe's choice of forum should be given less deference by the Court. The Tribe, however, argues that this proposition does not apply here, because a plaintiff's choice of forum that is not its home forum is afforded less deference only in those cases involving private party litigants. In those cases involving federal agencies, according to the Tribe, a court need not accord less deference to plaintiff's choice of forum. The Court believes this argument to be without merit. The cases cited by the Tribe in support of this argument make no distinction based on the public or private nature of the litigants when deciding whether plaintiff's choice of forum should be afforded less deference.⁴ Moreover courts in this district have a history of providing less deference to Native American Indian tribes when they have brought suit in this, their non-home forum.⁵ Therefore, while the Tribe's choice of forum will be afforded some deference, it is not a "paramount consideration." Indeed, despite the Tribe's assertion that its individual members live across the United States, the Tribe's reservation is, in fact, located in Kansas.

Furthermore, while the Tribe argues that the events that give rise to this suit, (i.e., the decisions of the GSA regarding disposal of the SFAAP), occurred in Washington, the Court, after further examination during oral argument, does not find that the government's actions to date are even centered in this forum. While some officials from the GSA and the Department of Interior who work in the Washington, D.C. area are involved in the SFAAP disposal,⁶ the decisionmaking process, by and large, has not been substantially focused in this forum. Indeed, it became clear to the Court during oral argument that the Washington D.C. office of the GSA has not made a final decision on the Tribe's appeal of the GSA decision to continue...