Wippert v. Blackfeet Tribe of Blackfeet Indian Reservation

• Decision Date: 01 December 1982
• Docket Number: No. 82-22,82-22
• Citation: 201 Mont. 299,39 St.Rep. 2117,654 P.2d 512
• Parties: Verlin F. WIPPERT and Loretta L. Wippert, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. The BLACKFEET TRIBE OF the BLACKFEET INDIAN RESERVATION, et al., Defendants and Respondents.
• Court: Montana Supreme Court

Page 512

654 P.2d 512

201 Mont. 299

Verlin F. WIPPERT and Loretta L. Wippert, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. The BLACKFEET TRIBE OF the BLACKFEET INDIAN RESERVATION, et al., Defendants and Respondents.

No. 82-22.

Supreme Court of Montana.

Submitted May 10, 1982.

Decided Dec. 1, 1982.

Frisbee, Moore & Stufft, Selden Frisbee argued, Cut Bank, for plaintiff and appellant.

Werner, Nelson & Epstein, James Nelson argued, Cut Bank, Cannon, Parish & Sheehy, Ed Sheehy argued, Helena, for defendants and respondents.

SHEA, Justice.

The Wipperts appeal a Glacier County District Court judgment that the Blackfeet Tribe is entitled to enforce a tribal court judgment as a matter of comity, and that the Robertsons are entitled to re

Prior to July 1, 1976, the Wipperts, adult Blackfeet tribal members, owned 2,427 acres in Glacier County, Montana, known as the Stone Ranch. In 1974, the Blackfeet Tribe loaned the Wipperts $46,773.28 due and payable to the Tribe with 10 percent interest not later than November 1, 1975. Aer the Wipperts defaulted on the loan, the Tribe obtained a $46,773.28 judgment (plus interest) against them in the Blackfeet Tribal Court on April 15, 1976. On April 21, 1976, the Tribe filed a notice of this judgment with the Glacier County Clerk and Recorder and the Glacier County District Court.

In June 1976, the Wipperts agreed to sell the Stone Ranch to the Robertsons and agreed to provide the Robertsons with a title insurance policy showing that the property was free and clear of all liens and encumbrances. When the title insurer discovered the Tribe's notice of judgment, the Robertsons refused to accept title. In order to assure the Robertsons that this notice of judgment would be cleared from the title, it was agreed that $20,000 of the purchase price would be kept in escrow with the title insurance "... to cover the amount still remaining and unpaid to the Blackfeet Tribe [by] the Wipperts.... Upon release of the judgment, the amount held in escrow, together with the interest thereon, shall be paid to [the Wipperts]...." It was also provided that if necessary to clear the judgment from the title, the escrow funds could be used to pay the judgment.

Before June 1976, the Wipperts had agreed that Mrs. Wippert's brother, Larry Whitford, could put his cows to pasture on the Stone Ranch from June through October 1976 for $3,000 per month. The Wipperts and Robertsons then made a written, supplemental agreement that the Robertsons would honor the buy-sell agreement, abide by the terms of the pasturage agreement, and defer possession of the Stone Ranch until October 1, 1976, in exchange for $12,000 of the pasturage fee.

On July 1, 1976, the Wipperts conveyed the Stone Ranch to the Robertsons by warranty deed. Almost a year later, on June 29, 1977, the Wipperts filed a complaint against the Robertsons and the Tribe, requesting that the Tribe set forth the nature of its claims to both the Stone Ranch and the escrow funds and that the court declare that the Tribe has no interest in or lien on either one. The Wipperts specifically requested that the court adjudicate the rights of all the parties in regard to the escrow funds.

The Wipperts also moved the court to strike the Tribe's notice of judgment from the court records on the ground that it was not a document entitled by law to be placed on the records. The court granted this motion to strike, but a copy of the notice of judgment remained on record as a lis pendens in the Glacier County Clerk and Recorder's Office.

The Tribe counterclaimed for $17,171.55 (the amount allegedly remaining unpaid on the tribal court judgment) and asked that this amount be taken out of the escrow funds held specifically for the purpose of satisfying that part of the tribal court judgment which remained unpaid.

The Robertsons also counterclaimed and requested that $10,500, the amount allegedly remaining unpaid under the supplemental agreement relating to deferring possession and obtaining $12,000 of the pasturage fees, be awarded them from the escrow funds.

The trial court ruled in favor of both the Tribe and the Robertsons on their counterclaims. The court held that the tribal court judgment was entitled to full faith and credit as a matter of comity, regardless of whether the Tribe had a valid lien against the Wipperts' property. On the Robertsons' counterclaim the trial court ruled that the supplemental agreement was more than a mere assignment of their right to the Robertsons to receive the pasturage fees paid by Larry Whitford for the use of the pasturage from June to October of 1976. Rather, the court held that the Wipperts had breached the supplemental agreement by not paying the $12,000 to the Robertsons.

The court held that because the Wipperts had asked it to adjudicate the rights of all the parties and to quiet title to the escrow funds, section 70-2-202, MCA (procedural provisions applicable to quiet title actions), authorized the use of the escrow funds to satisfy both the Tribe's and the Robertsons' judgments. The Wipperts appeal.

The Wipperts first contend that the judgment in favor of the Tribe on its counterclaim is not supported by any evidence that the Tribe possessed a valid lien against the Stone Ranch. Although we agree that the Tribe did not have a lien against the property, we also hold that the Wipperts, in their escrow agreement, agreed that the escrow funds could be used to satisfy any remaining tribal court judgment. The Wipperts, by this same agreement, also invited the Tribe to institute special proceedings to establish the validity of the tribal court judgment.

Tribal court judgments are treated with the same deference shown decisions of foreign nations as a matter of comity. Hilton v. Guyot (1895), 159 U.S. 113, 163-64, 16 S.Ct. 139, 143, 40 L.Ed. 95, 108; In re Marriage of Limpy (1981), Mont., 636 P.2d 266, 38 St.Rep. 1885; State ex rel. Stewart v. District Court (1980), Mont., 609 P.2d 290, 37 St.Rep. 635; Red Fox and Red Fox (1975), 23 Or.App. 393, 542 P.2d 918; Wakefield v. Little Light (1975), 276 Md. 333, 347 A.2d 228; In Re Lynch's Estate (1962), 92 Ariz. 354, 377 P.2d 199; Begay v. Miller (1950), 70 Ariz. 380, 222 P.2d 624. However, there is no Montana law which allows a tribe or foreign nation to place a lien against property situated in Montana by filing a notice of judgment with a Montana court. We do not even allow this for judgments rendered by our sister states; that is, to enforce a judgment rendered in a foreign country or another state, an action or a special proceeding must be instituted in the District Court of the county where the judgment is sought to be enforced. See section 26-3-203, MCA. Therefore, the District Court properly ordered the Tribe's notice of judgment be stricken from the court's records, and it was correct in declaring that it did not constitute a lien against the Wipperts' property.

Once a party files an action or a special proceeding to enforce a tribal or foreign judgment against a person, section 26-3-205(2), MCA authorizes, courts of this state to presume that the tribal or foreign judgment "... is evidence of a right as between the parties ... and can only be repelled by evidence of a want of jurisdiction, want of notice to the party, collusion, fraud, or clear mistake of law or fact."

But here the Tribe failed to file an action or special proceeding to enforce its judgment. Rather, the Wipperts themselves filed that action for the Tribe when they filed their complaint requesting that the Tribe set forth the nature of its claims and that the court decide the rights of all the parties. These requests laid the foundation for the court's inquiry into the validity of the tribal court judgment. Although the Wipperts alleged in their pleadings that the tribal court judgment was obtained by fraud, they offered no proof of fraud at any time.

Nonetheless we must remand for a determination of the proper amount of the tribal court judgment. The Wipperts have vaguely alleged in their briefs that the trial court...