Yankton Sioux Tribe v. United States

• Decision Date: 14 May 1980
• Docket Number: No. 332-D.,332-D.
• Parties: The YANKTON SIOUX TRIBE v. The UNITED STATES.
• Court: U.S. Claims Court

623 F.2d 159

The YANKTON SIOUX TRIBE v. The UNITED STATES.

No. 332-D.

United States Court of Claims.

May 14, 1980.

Patricia L. Brown, Washington, D. C., attorney of record, for plaintiff, Frances L. Horn, Washington, D. C., of counsel.

James E. Clubb, Washington, D. C., with whom was Asst. Atty. Gen., James W. Moorman, Washington, D. C., for defendant.

Before FRIEDMAN, Chief Judge, and KUNZIG and SMITH, Judges.

OPINION

PER CURIAM:

This case comes before the court on the joint motion of the parties, filed March 21, 1980, moving that the court adopt as the basis for its judgment in this case the recommended decision of Trial Judge Robert J. Yock, filed October 18, 1979, pursuant to Rule 134(h), since neither party wishes to file any exception thereto. Upon consideration thereof, without oral argument, since the court agrees with the recommended decision, as hereinafter set forth,^* it hereby grants the parties' motion and affirms and adopts the decision as the basis for its judgment in this case. Therefore, in accordance with the trial judge's decision it is concluded and determined that plaintiff is entitled to recover against defendant a final award in the total sum of $720,615.89 and judgment is entered for plaintiff in that amount.

OPINION OF TRIAL JUDGE

YOCK, Trial Judge:

In this case the Yankton Sioux Tribe raises claims arising from the sale of its reservation lands to the United States pursuant to the Agreement of December 31, 1892, Act of August 15, 1894, ch. 290, § 12, 28 Stat. 286 (1894) (section 12 ratified the Agreement with the Yankton Sioux or Dakota Indians, in South Dakota, December 31, 1892, 28 Stat. at 314 (hereinafter cited as Agreement of December 31, 1892)). Specifically, the tribe seeks to recover for the improper handling of both land and trust funds which belonged to the Yankton Sioux Tribe.

A review of the history and events leading up to the instant case will clarify its present posture.

The plaintiff, Yankton Sioux Tribe, originally filed its petition before the Indian Claims Commission on August 10, 1951. That petition was assigned Docket No. 332. In that petition plaintiff alleged several claims against the United States, including a claim for a general accounting which was set out in paragraphs 19, 20, and 21. By order of February 13, 1958, the Indian Claims Commission severed various claims under Docket 332, and the claim for a general accounting was assigned Docket No. 332-B. On the same date plaintiff filed an amended petition under said Docket 332-B in which, in paragraphs 6, 7, 8, and 9, plaintiff realleged almost verbatim the original claim for a general accounting.

A final judgment was entered on behalf of plaintiff in Docket No. 332-B by way of a compromise settlement. Yankton Sioux Tribe v. United States, 28 Ind.Cl.Comm. 367, 385 (1972). In pertinent part, the Stipulation for Entry of Final Judgment signed by the attorneys provided:

2. Specifically this settlement shall not affect in any way the following claims in Docket No. 332-B or any procedural or substantive defenses the defendant may have thereto:

a. any claims petitioner may have or assert for an accounting for the period commencing July 1, 1951; and

b. any claims petitioner may have or assert arising from the sale of reservation lands pursuant to the Agreement of December 31, 1892, 28 Stat. 314. 28 Ind.Cl.Comm. at 373.

The claims so reserved by the plaintiff were continued before the Commission and assigned to Docket No. 332-D (the instant case). A number of preliminary procedural matters were decided by the Indian Claims Commission in an earlier opinion in this Docket 332-D, Yankton Sioux Tribe v. United States, 37 Ind.Cl.Comm. 64 (1975). There, the plaintiff was ordered to show cause why its post-June 30, 1951 accounting claim should not be dismissed; plaintiff's motion for a supplemental accounting with respect to the land dispositions made by defendant pursuant to the Agreement of December 31, 1892, 28 Stat. 314 (1894) was denied; defendant's motion to dismiss plaintiff's claims with respect to the disposition of plaintiff's lands pursuant to the Agreement of December 31, 1892, supra, was denied; and the defendant was ordered to supplement its 1965 Accounting Report with respect to certain disbursements. The post-June 30, 1951 accounting claim was subsequently dismissed. Yankton Sioux Tribe v. United States, 39 Ind.Cl.Comm. 149, 157 (1976). The supplemental accounting which was ordered by the Commission was filed by the defendant in late March 1976. Plaintiff's exceptions to defendant's accounting were filed on September 29, 1976, and defendant's response to those exceptions was filed on December 20, 1976.

Then, by order entered on February 2, 1977, the Commission set this case for trial on September 12, 1977, on the valuation issues raised by plaintiff's land disposition claim under the Agreement of December 31, 1892, supra. That claim relates to the reservation lands reserved to the Yankton Sioux Tribe under Article I of the Treaty between the United States of America, and the Yancton Tribe of Sioux, of Dacotah Indians, April 19, 1858, 11 Stat. 743 (1859) (hereinafter Treaty of April 19, 1858). Pursuant to Articles I and II of the Agreement of December 31, 1892, supra, plaintiff ceded all of the unallotted lands on that reservation for a consideration of $600,000, of which the principal sum of $500,000 was placed in the Treasury at 5 percent interest, and $100,000 was paid out to tribal members per capita. Plaintiff contends that the $600,000 consideration for the ceded lands was inadequate, and it seeks revision of the Agreement of December 31, 1892, supra, and additional compensation pursuant to section 2 of the Indian Claims Commission Act, 25 U.S.C. § 70a (1976).

Even though the Commission's Order of February 2, 1977, set only the valuation issues for trial, plaintiff treated the accounting issues as also having been set for trial. Trial was held in the week of September 12, 1977. The defendant subsequently noted that it had no objections to the Commission's deciding the accounting claims before it, even though they had not been specifically ordered for trial.

After briefing, but before a decision was issued by the Indian Claims Commission, the Commission, having determined that it could not completely adjudicate the claims remaining in the case by September 30, 1978, transferred the case to the United States Court of Claims on July 13, 1978, pursuant to section 23 of the Indian Claims Commission Act, as amended, 25 U.S.C. § 70v (1976). Yankton Sioux Tribe v. United States, 42 Ind.Cl.Comm. 202, 203-04 (1978). By order dated April 6, 1979, the trial judge allowed further memoranda to be filed by the parties prior to decision in this case.

In this posture, the following issues have been presented to the court for its determination:

I. Land Claim

A. How many acres were ceded by the Agreement of December 31, 1892, 28 Stat. 314 (1894)? This question involves two factors. One, the size of the reservation created by the Treaty of April 19, 1858, 11 Stat. 743 (1859). Plaintiff contends that it was 431,110.21 acres; defendant contends it was 400,000 acres. Two, the amount of lands allotted within said reservation. Plaintiff contends that only 230,000 acres were properly allotted; defendant claims that 268,361.95 acres were so allotted. Plaintiff, therefore, contends that 201,110.21 (rounded to 201,110) acres of unallotted lands were ceded, while defendant claims that 131,638.05 acres were ceded.

B. What was the fair market value of the unallotted lands ceded by the 1892 Agreement, supra, as of December 31, 1892? Plaintiff contends that said fair market value was $9.25 per acre, or, alternatively, $7.85 per acre if the lands were sold to a single investor rather than to individual settlers. Defendant's appraiser testified that said lands had a fair market value of $3.35 per acre. The valuation differences are largely a factor of the dispute as to the size of the cession and the different adjustments of comparable sales data for improvements and for size.

II. Fund Claims

Has the defendant properly accounted for the proceeds of the 1892 Agreement, supra? The defendant claims that it has so properly accounted and that this accounting shows no breach of any duty by the United States. Plaintiff contends that the accounting shows that the defendant breached its fiduciary obligations in several respects, for which plaintiff is entitled to $241,926 in damages.

I. Land Claim

Numerous cases have expressed the view that, when dealing with Indian property, the Government may be acting as a "trustee." Navajo Tribe of Indians v. United States, 364 F.2d 320, 322, 176 Ct.Cl. 502, 507 (1966). See, e. g., Seminole Nation v. United States, 316 U.S. 286, 296, 62 S.Ct. 1049, 1054, 86 L.Ed. 1480 (1942); Menominee Tribe v. United States, 101 Ct.Cl. 10, 19 (1944). See also Oneida Tribe v. United States, 165 Ct.Cl. 487, 494, cert. denied, 379 U.S. 946, 86 S.Ct. 441, 13 L.Ed.2d 544 (1964), where Judge Davis indicated that it was unnecessary to determine whether the relationship between the tribe and the United States was technically a trusteeship or a guardianship, since in any event the United States had a special duty of care regarding the Oneida tribe's property, under the circumstances. In the present case, the Indian Claims Commission has already specifically ruled that the Treaty of April 19, 1858, 11 Stat. 743 (1859), imposed upon the United States Government "the fiduciary duty to protect the integrity of the Plaintiff's property, i. e., the reservation lands." Yankton Sioux Tribe v. United States, 37 Ind.Cl. Comm. 64, 81 (1975). Accordingly, the defendant must be deemed to have been a trustee with respect to the Yankton Sioux Reservation lands.

It is well-settled that "the standard of duty for the United States as trustee for Indians is not mere `reasonableness,' but the highest fiduciary standards....