Ford Motor Co. v. Kayenta District Court

7 Am. Tribal Law 652
CourtNavajo Nation Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 18, 2008
DocketNo. SC-CV-33-07
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 7 Am. Tribal Law 652 (Ford Motor Co. v. Kayenta District Court) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Navajo Nation Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ford Motor Co. v. Kayenta District Court, 7 Am. Tribal Law 652 (navajo 2008).

Opinion

OPINION

This case concerns a jurisdictional challenge by Ford Motor Company. The Court holds that the Navajo Nation courts have authority to hear a claim against a motor vehicle manufacturer alleging that a vehicle defect resulted in the death of a Navajo police officer on a road located on trust land within the Navajo Reservation.

I

The relevant facts are as follows. A Navajo Nation police officer, Esther Tode-cheene, died from injuries when she was ejected as her police vehicle overturned on a dirt road located on trust land within the Utah portion of the Navajo Reservation. The vehicle was manufactured by Petition[655]*655er Ford Motor Company (Ford), and was purchased by the Navajo Nation through Gurley Motor Company of Gallup, New Mexico, a Ford dealer located off the Reservation. The Nation purchased the vehicle as part of a larger purchase of about 360 vehicles from Gurley. The fleet purchase via a secured transaction was financed by Ford Motor Credit Company, a subsidiary of Ford. Ford Motor Credit financed the purchase as a tax-exempt transaction with a sovereign Indian nation under the Indian Tribal Government Tax Status Act of 1986. See 26 U.S.C. § 7701. An amendment to the purchase agreement states that the Nation certified that the vehicles would be used “only in the exercise of essential government functions by the Nation” as defined by the Act. Agreement, Amendment Section 7, Exhibit D to Affidavit of Francesca Walter, Operations Services Coordinator, Ford Motor Credit, Exhibit 3 in support of Petition for Writ of Prohibition.

The case has taken a long, tortuous path to this Court. Real Parties in Interest Joe and Mary Todecheene, parents of Esther Todecheene, filed a wrongful death claim in the Tuba City District Court in April, 2000. In the complaint they alleged that a defective seat belt caused their daughter’s death, and sought damages from Ford as the manufacturer of the vehicle. The case was transferred to Kayenta District Court (District Court). Ford moved to dismiss the case from the District Court, arguing that the suit was not within the court’s jurisdiction under United States Supreme Court precedent defining the scope of tribal jurisdiction over non-Indians under federal Indian law. The District Court ruled it had jurisdiction. Instead of seeking review by this Court, Ford filed an action in the federal district court of Arizona to enjoin the Navajo Nation courts from hearing the case. The federal district court ruled there was no jurisdiction. Applying the test in the United States Supreme Court’s opinion in Montana v. United States, 450 U.S. 544, 101 S.Ct. 1245, 67 L.Ed.2d 493 (1981), the, Arizona federal district court held that pursuant to Montana, Indian nations lack civil jurisdiction over non-Indians unless one of two exceptions is met. The court concluded that neither of the Montana exceptions were met. On appeal, the Ninth Circuit initially affirmed the federal district court decision. However, the Ninth Circuit later vacated that ruling upon a petition for rehearing filed by the Real Parties in Interest and Navajo Nation, and required Ford to seek review by the Navajo Supreme Court on one issue: whether the Navajo Nation could assert jurisdiction under the second Montana, exception, which recognizes Indian nation jurisdiction if the conduct of the non-Indian “threatens or has some direct effect on the political integrity, the economic security, or the health or welfare of the tribe.” Id. at 566, 101 S.Ct. 1245.

Consistent with the Ninth Circuit’s instructions, Ford filed this petition for a writ of prohibition with this Court, Following the filing of the writ, this Court posed an additional question to the parties in keeping with its own precedents. Namely, whether the Treaty of 1868 (Treaty between the Navajo Tribe of Indians and the United States of America, 15 Stat. 667) provides an independent ground for the Nation’s courts to hear the case under the right of inherent sovereignty. The Navajo Nation Department of Justice and Susan Rose, a private attorney, filed ami-cus briefs on these issues.

While Ford’s Petition was pending here, the United States Supreme Court heard another case on the civil jurisdiction of Indian nation courts over non-Indians, Plains Commerce Bank v. Long Family Land & Cattle Co., — U.S. ——, 128 [656]*656S.Ct. 2709, 171 L.Ed.2d 457 (2008) (Plains Commerce). With the concurrence of all the parties, this Court stayed consideration of the Petition until the United States Supreme Court issued its opinion in Plains Commerce. Once the opinion in Plains Commerce was issued, this Court invited supplemental briefs on the effect, if any, of the Plains Commerce opinion. Ford and Amicus Susan Rose filed briefs on the effect of Plains Commerce. The Court held oral argument at the Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law at Arizona State University on September 18, 2008.

II

The issues in this case are (1) whether pursuant to Article II of the Treaty of 1868 (Treaty), Navajo courts have subject matter jurisdiction over a liability claim filed by a tribal member against the nonmember manufacturer of an allegedly defective vehicle that caused the death of a Navajo Nation police officer on a dirt road on trust land within the Nation, where said vehicle was financed for sale to the Navajo Nation by a subsidiary of the manufacturer specifically for use by Navajo police officers to patrol all roads within the Navajo Nation; and (2) whether Montana v. United States applies and authorizes such jurisdiction under the same factual circumstances.

III

The Navajo Nation retains civil jurisdiction over claims arising within the Nation by inherent sovereignty under Article II of the Treaty. To the Navajo, the Treaty is the organic law. It is the old law made at Fort Sumner by our ancestors following years of captivity to secure the Nation’s prosperity. Hwéeldidi Bee-haz’áanii Semi Nihizázíui’ uee'niji’ bee hoot'ih dooleel yiniyé nihá áyiilaaígíi. This is why the Treaty is considered a sacred document. This Court cannot ignore this law which embodies Naayéé’ yee ak’ ehdeesdlfy’go Hózhqqjíí yee ak’idhjaa süñ’ (they overcome adversity through Protective Way to restore peace and harmony) between our ancestors and the United States. This Court’s precedents have emphasized the Treaty as the primary source of the Nation’s authority over non-Indians within the Nation. See Cedar Unified School Dist. v. Navajo Nation Labor Commit, 2007 WL 5909897, **2-3, 7 Am. Tribal Law 579, 582-85 (Nav.Sup.Ct. 2007) (employment regulation of state-organized school districts); Thinn v. Navajo Generating Station, 2007 WL 5601033, *2, 7 Am. Tribal Law 558, 561 (Nav.Sup.Ct. 2007) (employment regulation of non-Indian operated power plant); In the Matter of A.P., 8 Nav. R. 671 (Nav.Sup.Ct.2005) (juvenile delinquency jurisdiction over non-Indian minor); Dale Nicholson Trust v. Chavez, 8 Nav. R. 417, 5 Am. Tribal Law 365 (Nav.Sup.Ct.2004) (regulation of state tax officials’ seizure of non-Indian property). Although the Ninth Circuit did not address the Treaty in considering the jurisdictional question before it, this Court is obliged to do so.

Ford makes several arguments against the applicability of the Treaty in this case.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
7 Am. Tribal Law 652, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ford-motor-co-v-kayenta-district-court-navajo-2008.