Yakama Indian Nation v. Flores
| Decision Date | 12 February 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. CS-89-458-AAM.,No. CY-92-3100-AAM.,CS-89-458-AAM.,CY-92-3100-AAM. |
| Citation | 955 F.Supp. 1229 |
| Parties | YAKAMA INDIAN NATION, Plaintiff/Intervenors, v. Juan FLORES, et al., Defendants. Ronald CREE, Jr., et al., Plaintiffs, v. Juan FLORES, et al., Defendants. WHEELER LOGGING, Plaintiff, v. Annette SANDBERG, et al., Defendants, v. Federico PENA, United States Secretary of Transportation, Third Party Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Washington |
Timothy R. Weaver, Cockrill & Weaver, Yakima, WA, Elizabeth F.M. Nason, Yakama Nation Office of Legal Counsel, Toppenish, WA, for Cree plaintiffs and Yakama Indian Nation, plaintiff-intervenor.
Jack Warren Fiander, While Swan, WA, for plaintiff Wheeler Logging.
Fronda C. Woods, Attorney General of Washington, Licensing Division, Olympia, WA, for defendants.
Once again the court must determine whether the Treaty With the Yakamas of 1855 (hereinafter "Treaty") precludes the State of Washington from imposing licensing and permitting fees on logging trucks owned by the Yakama Indian Nation or its members. At the summary judgment stage of these proceedings, the court ruled in favor of plaintiff-intervenor Yakama Indian Nation after dismissing the claims of the individual plaintiffs. Ct.Rec. 180. The court found that the phrase "in common with," as interpreted in Treaty fishing cases, applies to the public highways clause of the Treaty, and thus precludes the imposition of truck licensing and permitting fees on Indian-owned trucks. Cree v. Waterbury, 873 F.Supp. 404 (E.D.Wash.1994). The Ninth Circuit reversed, holding that the court must engage in a fact-finding inquiry to discern what the parties to the Treaty intended. Cree v. Waterbury, 78 F.3d 1400 (9th Cir.1996).
Accordingly, on November 4, 1996, a bench trial commenced in the above-mentioned consolidated actions. Timothy R. Weaver, Cockrill & Weaver, Yakima, Washington, represented the individual Cree plaintiffs and plaintiff-intervenor Yakama Indian Nation, and Elizabeth F.M. Nason also appeared on behalf of the Yakama Nation. Jack W. Fiander represented plaintiff Wheeler Logging. Assistant Washington State Attorney General Fronda Woods represented state defendants.
The Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Indian Nation (Yakama Nation) and the individually-named plaintiffs1 in these consolidated actions brought suit seeking a declaration of their rights under Article III, paragraph 1, of the Treaty with the Yakamas, regarding the right of the Yakama Nation and its members to operate vehicles on public highways within Washington state.
Specifically, plaintiffs seek a declaration by the court that Article III, paragraph 1, reserves to the Yakama Nation and its members the right to take tribal goods to market over the public highways of Washington state free from state registration requirements and applicable licensing and permitting fees. However, plaintiffs do not oppose truck registration with the State for purposes of identification. Further, plaintiffs do not seek exemption from weight regulations applicable to Indian-owned logging trucks or from fines issued for non-compliance with those regulations. Rather, plaintiffs argue that the Treaty precludes the State from exacting a fee, either directly or indirectly, for compliance with those regulations. Additionally, the Yakama Nations seeks a declaration that it has the sovereign authority and Treaty-reserved right to regulate the conduct of its members in exercising the right to travel the public highways without interference by the State.
Alternatively, plaintiffs argue that Washington licensing and permitting fees, as currently applied to Indian-owned trucks, are barred by the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution because such fees are not pro-rated for off-reservation use as required under Washington v. Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation, 447 U.S. 134, 100 S.Ct. 2069, 65 L.Ed.2d 10 (1980), and Moe v. Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, 425 U.S. 463, 96 S.Ct. 1634, 48 L.Ed.2d 96 (1976). Defendants deny all claims of plaintiffs and assert that the Treaty does not reserve a right to travel the public highways free of applicable licensing and tonnage fees. Additionally, defendants deny that the Supremacy Clause bars the challenged fees and registration.
Washington state law requires registration of personal automobiles with an accompanying flat registration and licensing fee. See RCW § 46.16.010. Vehicles owned by individual Indians have never been exempt from Washington vehicle registration fees. Since 1915, Washington has required registration and licensing of trucks according to gross weight, with higher weights bearing higher licensing fees. RCW §§ 46.16.070, 46.16.135 (monthly tonnage licenses), 46.44.095 (temporary tonnage permits).2 Trucks owned by individual Indians have never been exempt from such license fees. In addition, Washington requires log tolerance permits for certain overweight trucks with payment of an accompanying fee. RCW §§ 46.44.047, 46.44.095 (temporary tonnage permit). Again, individual Indians have never been exempt from such fees. Washington law establishes traffic infractions for violations of the weight licensing requirements, such as failure to obtain proper licensing and permits, and impose penalties for such violations. RCW §§ 46.16.010, 46.16.135, 46.16.140, 46.16.145. Fees paid to the State of Washington for truck registration, licensing, and log tolerance permits are credited to the state motor fund and used primarily for highway purposes. RCW §§ 46.68.030, 46.68.035.
Plaintiff-Intervenor Yakama Nation sells timber from lands held in trust by the United States for the benefit of the Yakama Nation and its members. Under the supervision of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Yakama Nation enters into timber sales contracts with purchasers. When possible, purchasers of tribal timber must employ tribal members. See Testimony of Kip Ramsey; P-54 (Stipulated testimony of Delbert Wheeler).
Cree and Wheeler plaintiffs operate logging trucks that haul logs from tribal timber sales within reservation lands to off-reservation mills. Cree plaintiff Richard "Kip" Ramsey is the owner of Tiin-Ma Logging Company. Ramsey began his logging business in 1978 and was the first Indian logger to haul tribal timber off-reservation. The other named Cree plaintiffs are employed as drivers for Tiin-Ma and, with the exception of Douglas Beebe, are enrolled members of the Yakama Nation. Delbert Wheeler is the owner of plaintiff Wheeler Logging and is an enrolled Yakama Indian. Wheeler Logging began operations in 1987.
Defendants are officers authorized to issue traffic citations for violations of vehicle registration, licensing and permitting statutes. Plaintiffs brought suit after defendant officers issued traffic citations to Tiin-Ma and Wheeler Logging drivers because Kip Ramsey and Delbert Wheeler neither paid applicable tonnage licensing fees nor obtained log tolerance permits for their trucks. Recently, defendant officers began issuing citations to Tiin-Ma and Wheeler drivers for the failure to possess proper registration. All of the state enforcement actions challenged in this case happened outside the boundaries of the Yakama Indian Reservation.
Plaintiffs claim that the Treaty with the Yakamas protects their right to haul tribal timber to market over state highways without restriction, and therefore the state cannot impose licensing and permitting fees on logging trucks owned by the Yakama Nation or its members. They allege that the officers have deprived plaintiffs of their rights under the Treaty.
Cree plaintiffs filed suit against the State of Washington and several of its officers on July 3, 1989. On June 1, 1991, the court granted Cree plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction. Ct.Rec. 48. The court enjoined defendants from issuing citations to Tiin-Ma Logging Company or its drivers for violations of the laws of Washington that are based on the failure to obtain tonnage licenses under RCW 46.16.070 or the failure to obtain log tolerance permits under RCW 46.44.047. The court further enjoined defendants from impounding or threatening to impound Tiin-Ma's trucks for similar violations.
On June 17, 1991, the court issued an order granting in part and denying in part defendants' first motion for partial summary judgment. Ct.Rec. 49. The court granted the motion to dismiss all claims against the State of Washington; granted the motion to dismiss all claims for damages against the defendant officers in their official capacities; and granted the motion to dismiss the claims for injunctive relief against former defendant Waterbury as he was no longer employed by the State Patrol. The court denied defendants' motion to dismiss the damages claims against the officers in their individual capacities based on qualified immunity. On appeal, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the court's ruling on qualified immunity. Ct. Rec. 80. The Circuit held that the officers were entitled to qualified immunity because the claimed treaty right was not clearly established at the time the officers issued the citations.
Wheeler Logging filed suit on September 8, 1992. Subsequently, the court granted Wheeler Logging's motion for preliminary injunction. The terms and conditions of the injunction are essentially identical to those issued in Cree. Because the legal issues in the two cases are practically indistinguishable, the court consolidated the cases on March 6, 1993. Additionally, the court granted defendants' motion to join the United States Secretary of Transportation as a third-party defendant. Ct.Rec. 81. However, service was not perfected upon the Secretary until July 1996.
On May 11, 1994, the court ordered the individual plaintiffs...
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Case summaries.
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