State v. Peltier, 20170463
| Citation | 915 N.W.2d 115 |
| Decision Date | 11 July 2018 |
| Docket Number | No. 20170463,20170463 |
| Parties | STATE of North Dakota, Statutory Party in Interest and Appellee and Daniell S. Breland, Plaintiff v. Daniel PELTIER, Defendant and Appellant |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of North Dakota |
Courtney A. Evenson, Devils Lake, ND, for appellee and plaintiff.
Thomas M. Disselhorst, Bismarck, ND, for defendant and appellant.
Daniel Peltier (on brief), self-represented, Dunseith, ND, defendant and appellant.
[¶1] Daniel Peltier appeals from an order denying his motion for relief from a child support judgment. Peltier argues the state district court erred in denying his motion because the Turtle Mountain Tribal Court has exclusive subject matter jurisdiction to decide his child support obligation. We conclude the state district court has concurrent jurisdiction to decide Peltier’s child support obligation, and the district court did not err in denying his motion for relief from the judgment. We affirm.
[¶2] After a January 2009 hearing, the Turtle Mountain Tribal Court entered an order determining Peltier was the biological father of a child born to Daniell Breland in Belcourt in February 2008. The tribal court paternity order stated Peltier was an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, Breland was an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and they had been residing on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation for more than six months before the paternity proceeding was commenced. The paternity order did not address child support.
[¶3] Breland received financial assistance from the State for the child, and she assigned her right to child support to the State. Shortly thereafter, in March 2009, the State, as a statutory party in interest, brought an action against Peltier in state district court to establish his child support obligation. Peltier did not appear or respond in that action, and a state court judgment was entered in May 2009, ordering him to pay Breland $330 per month in child support.
[¶4] In September 2014, the State moved to amend the state court judgment to require Peltier to pay Breland $606 per month in child support. In October 2014, the court issued an order for judgment stating that Peltier had failed to answer the State’s motion and that the judgment was amended to require Peltier to pay Breland $606 per month in child support.
[¶5] In June 2016, the state court issued an order requiring Peltier to show cause why he should not be held in contempt for failing to pay child support and why his driver’s license should not be withheld, restricted, or suspended. Peltier appeared without counsel at a September 2016 hearing, and the court thereafter issued a September 12, 2016 order, finding he had the ability to pay his child support obligation, he had not made reasonable efforts to pay that amount, and he was in contempt of court. The court ordered Peltier to make payments of $606 per month to the state disbursement unit and sentenced him to ten days in jail unless he purged the contempt by making payments of no less than $606 per month beginning on October 1, 2016.
[¶6] On September 27, 2016, Peltier, without counsel, filed a motion to dismiss the child support proceeding, claiming the state court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over his child support obligation. The record does not reflect that Peltier served that motion on Breland or the State, but the record includes a letter from the clerk of court to Peltier informing him that he was responsible for following procedural rules regarding service on all parties.
[¶7] A warrant of attachment was subsequently issued for Peltier’s arrest. In June 2017, Peltier, with counsel, moved to dismiss the state court proceeding under N.D.R.Civ.P. 12(b) for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and to enjoin the State from withholding, restricting, or suspending his driver’s license. Peltier’s affidavit in support of his motion stated he was an enrolled member of the Crow Nation and was eligible for enrollment with the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, and he knew Breland was an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and she has continuously resided on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation since the child was conceived in 2007. According to Peltier, he had lived on tribal trust land within the exterior boundaries of the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation before the child was conceived in 2007, and he worked on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation from 2006 to 2015 but he always returned to his permanent home on tribal trust land of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians. Peltier’s affidavit stated the child was born in 2008 in Belcourt within the exterior boundaries of the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation and has resided on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation his entire life. According to Peltier, the child is an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and is eligible for enrollment with the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians.
[¶8] The district court denied Peltier’s motion to dismiss the child support proceeding for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, stating Peltier, Breland, and the child were not enrolled members of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and the exercise of state court jurisdiction in this action would not infringe on the Turtle Mountain Band’s tribal sovereignty. Relying on Roe v. Doe , 2002 ND 136, 649 N.W.2d 566, the district court ruled it had concurrent jurisdiction with the Turtle Mountain Tribal Court over Peltier’s child support obligation.
[¶9] Although styled as a motion to dismiss under N.D.R.Civ.P. 12(b), Peltier’s motion to dismiss was ostensibly a motion for relief from the prior judgment under N.D.R.Civ.P. 60(b)(4) on the ground that judgment was void for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. See Roe , 2002 ND 136, ¶ 6, 649 N.W.2d 566 (). In analyzing a motion under N.D.R.Civ.P. 60(b)(4), a district court has no discretion in deciding whether to grant the motion if the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction, but the party bringing the motion must show sufficient grounds for disturbing the finality of the earlier judgment. Roe , at ¶ 6.
[¶10] In State v. B.B. , 2013 ND 242, ¶ 7, 840 N.W.2d 651 (quoting Kelly v. Kelly , 2011 ND 167, ¶ 12, 806 N.W.2d 133 ), we described our standard of review of a state court’s determination of subject matter jurisdiction in child custody cases involving Indian parents:
It is well settled under North Dakota law that challenges to a district court’s subject matter jurisdiction are reviewed de novo when the jurisdictional facts are not in dispute. Harshberger v. Harshberger , 2006 ND 245, ¶ 16, 724 N.W.2d 148. When jurisdictional facts are disputed, the district court’s decision on subject matter jurisdiction necessarily involves findings of fact and conclusions of law. Therefore, when disputed facts surround a challenge to the district court’s subject matter jurisdiction, we are presented with a mixed question of law and fact. See Escobar v. Reisinger , , 64 P.3d 514, 516 (N.M. Ct. App. 2003) (). Under this standard, we review the "questions of law subject to the de novo standard of review [and the] findings of fact subject to the clearly erroneous standard of review." Wigginton v. Wigginton , 2005 ND 31, ¶ 13, 692 N.W.2d 108.
Our review of jurisdiction in this child support proceeding is under that standard—questions of law are subject to de novo review and findings of fact are subject to the clearly erroneous standard of review. B.B. , at ¶ 7.
[¶11] Peltier argues the state district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over this child support proceeding because it involves tribal members who reside on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation, the Turtle Mountain Tribal Court issued the paternity order, and a tribal forum exists to resolve child support. He claims all the parties in this case are eligible for enrollment in the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and fall under the jurisdiction of the Turtle Mountain Tribal Court. He asserts the Turtle Mountain Tribal Court has exclusive jurisdiction over all controversies arising on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation between enrolled members and non-enrolled members residing on the reservation. He thus argues the tribal court has exclusive jurisdiction to decide his child support obligation and the state court proceeding must be dismissed.
[¶12] The State responds the district court had concurrent subject matter jurisdiction to establish a child support obligation against a nonmember Indian residing within the boundaries of the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation after paternity had previously been decided and no other child support order existed.
[¶13] Under certain circumstances, we have held that tribal courts have exclusive jurisdiction to decide parentage of a child of Indian tribal members. McKenzie Cty. Soc. Serv. Bd. v. C.G. , 2001 ND 151, ¶ 18, 633 N.W.2d 157 ; In re M.L.M. , 529 N.W.2d 184, 186 (N.D. 1995) ; McKenzie Cty. Soc. Servs. Bd. v. V.G. , 392 N.W.2d 399, 402 (N.D. 1986). Our decisions in those cases were based on the infringement test from Williams v. Lee , 358 U.S. 217, 223, 79 S.Ct. 269, 3 L.Ed.2d 251 (1959), under which state court jurisdiction over certain claims is not allowed if that jurisdiction "would undermine the authority of the tribal courts over Reservation affairs and hence would infringe on the right of the Indians to govern themselves." We explained that under the infringement test, the United States Supreme Court has identified two categories of claims over which tribal courts have exclusive civil jurisdiction: (1) a claim by a non-Indian against an Indian for conduct...
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