Dodge v. First Wisconsin Trust Company

394 F. Supp. 1124
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Wisconsin
DecidedMay 16, 1975
Docket74-C-476
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 394 F. Supp. 1124 (Dodge v. First Wisconsin Trust Company) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dodge v. First Wisconsin Trust Company, 394 F. Supp. 1124 (E.D. Wis. 1975).

Opinion

DECISION AND ORDER

MYRON L. GORDON, District Judge.

Each of the three named defendants, First Wisconsin Trust Company, N. E. Isaacson & Associates, Inc., and the Shawano County board, has filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to Rules 12(b) (1) and 12(b)(6), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. In addition, Menominee Enterprises Incorporated has moved to be dismissed as a plaintiff in this action, without costs. I conclude that the defendants’ motions to dismiss the complaint should be granted, and that this action should be dismissed without costs and without leave to replead.

While other motions have been filed by the plaintiffs, they are either merit-less or are rendered moot by the.resolution of the motions to dismiss. The defendants have also filed additional motions; such motions need not be decided in view of the disposition of the defendants’ motions to dismiss pursuant to Rules 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6).

On October 16, 1974, the plaintiffs, Ronald E. Dodge and All Tribes Inc,, filed a pro se shareholder’s derivative complaint on behalf of Menominee Enterprises. The plaintiffs assert claims for relief arising under U.S.Const. art. I, § 10 and amends. X and XIV, 25 U.S.C. §§ 81, 82, 463, 479 and the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1-7, 15. A claim for relief based upon common law fraud has also been alleged.

The plaintiffs contend that jurisdiction -is vested in this court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1360, 1362 and 1337. The claims alleged in the complaint are brought on behalf of Menominee Enterprises pursuant to Rule 23.1, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

The defendants take the position that the complaint fails to state any claims for relief, that the allegations of the complaint are insufficient to establish federal jurisdiction and that the complaint does not meet the requirements of Rule 23.1, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, for a shareholder’s derivative suit; Menominee Enterprises joins the defendants in the last of these assertions. In my opinion, the complaint is deficient in each respect asserted by the defendants.

I. FAILURE TO STATE A CLAIM FOR RELIEF

Of the claims alleged to arise under the Constitution, only that based upon the fourteenth amendment deserves any discussion. Both First Wisconsin *1126 Trust and N. E. Isaacson & Associates are private entities and do not owe the plaintiff corporation any duty under the fourteenth amendment.

As far as the Shawano County board is concerned, the plaintiffs allege that because Menominee Enterprises is the largest taxpayer in Menominee County, the agreements between Shawano County and Menominee County for certain unspecified civil services

“represent deliberate covert indirect taxation under the guise of legally applied municipal corporate power, and an economical control of Menominee Enterprises Incorporated by constructive fraud.” Complaint (f).

This allegation is entirely conclusory and fails to support the proposition that Shawano County has deprived Menominee Enterprises of its fourteenth amendment rights.

The plaintiffs’ claims under 25 U.S.C. § 81 are equally meritless. First Wisconsin Trust Company and N. E. Isaac-son are alleged to have contracted unlawfully with Menominee Enterprises because of such defendants’ failure to comply with 25 U.S.C. § 81. Section 81 provides certain protective requirements for contracts made with a tribe of Indians or individual Indians.

It is apparent from the complaint and its exhibits that the contractual relationships alleged occurred during the period of time between 1961 and 1973 when the Menominee tribal status was terminated. During this termination period, the Menominees were deprived of the protection of such statutes as 25 U.S.C. § 81 by virtue of 25 U.S.C. § 899 which states in part:

“ [Individual members of the tribe shall not be entitled to any of the services performed by the United States for Indians because of their status as Indians, all statutes of the United States which affect Indians because of their status as Indians shall no longer be applicable to the members of the tribe . . . .”

Thus, even assuming that corporate status of Menominee Enterprises is ignored, 25 U.S.C. § 81 cannot provide a basis for the plaintiffs’ claims against the defendants.

The plaintiffs also contend that they may recover damages on behalf of Menominee Enterprises by virtue of 25 U.S.C. §§ 82, 463 and 479. These statutes are totally inapposite to the few facts which are alleged in the complaint.

Although the first page of the complaint indicates that some claims against the defendants are based upon Sherman Act antitrust violations, the remainder of the complaint is devoid of any allegation which could support recovery under the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1-7. The frivolity of the plaintiffs’ antitrust theory is suggested by the following statement which appears at page 11 of their brief in opposition to the defendants’ motions to dismiss:

“An anti-trust violation is involved whenever Indian lands are priced, taxed, (directly or indirectly) under whatever guise or form.”

Finally, the plaintiffs have failed adequately to state a claim for relief for common law fraud. To a great extent the claims of fraud against the defendants are based upon 25 U.S.C. §§ 81 and 82 discussed earlier.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
394 F. Supp. 1124, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dodge-v-first-wisconsin-trust-company-wied-1975.