Gila River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community v. The United States

427 F.2d 1194, 190 Ct. Cl. 790, 1970 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 114
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedFebruary 20, 1970
DocketAppeal 1-69, 2-69, 3-69
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 427 F.2d 1194 (Gila River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community v. The United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gila River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community v. The United States, 427 F.2d 1194, 190 Ct. Cl. 790, 1970 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 114 (cc 1970).

Opinions

[1195]*1195ON APPEAL FROM THE INDIAN CLAIMS COMMISSION

DURFEE, Judge.

This is an appeal from an order of the Indian Claims Commission dismissing appellant’s petitions in Docket Nos. 236-K, 236-L and 236-M.

Appellant, the Gila River Indian Community, sued for itself and for and on behalf of members of the Pima and Maricopa Tribes of Indians.

The petitions, which were dealt with jointly by the Commission, asserted claims based on damages to the Tribe resulting from the Government’s breach of its alleged general obligation as guardian of the Indians and from the breach of an obligation created by affirmative acts of providing Indian education, health services and administration. Docket No. 236-K alleged that damage was based on the Government’s failure to provide adequate educational facilities, instructors and instruction in particular subjects. Docket No. 236-L alleged that damage was based on the Government’s failure to provide adequate medical facilities and personnel to care for the health and safety of the appellant tribes. Finally, Docket No. 236-M alleged that damage was caused by the Government when it “undertook to, and did, subjugate petitioner under wardship to a stagnation of self-expression * * * [and] bridled petitioner into cultural impotency.”

The basis of jurisdiction upon which appellant was relying before the Commission was the “fair and honorable dealings” section of the Indian Claims Commission Act, section 2(5), 25 U.S.C. § 70a (5) (1964).1

The Government moved for summary judgment on the grounds that all three petitions failed to state claims which are tribal claims,2 and that all three petitions failed to state claims upon which relief could be granted.

The Commission assumed, for the purposes of passing on the Government’s motion, that this was indeed a tribal claim. Nevertheless, it held that there was nothing in the legislative history of the Indian Claims Commission Act which suggested that claims this broad were intended to come within the broad grant of jurisdiction to the Commission. Gila River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, et al. v. United States, 20 Ind.Cl. Comm. 131, 132 (1968). It also held that there could be no judicial establishment of a standard of care in providing these services. Id. at 134. The Commission did not find any specific acts of less than fair and honorable dealings, nor the violation of any statute, treaty or other agreement or obligation, but only conduct over an extended period of time which is alleged to have damaged the Indians. Id. at 132-3.

Petitioner is now before this court in order to establish its right to prove damages. We agree with the Commission that because the claims are not cognizable under the Act, the Commission does not have jurisdiction over this action. Before going further, however, we should first state that we do not agree with one [1196]*1196of the grounds for dismissal of the petitions as stated in its opinion:

Even going so far to accept the theory of the petitions, we cannot find in the pleadings any setting out of a duty on the part of the defendant that is subject to judicial definition. Generally speaking we would assume that when defendant undertook to provide the various services it undertook to do no harm by them; the petitions do not allege an intent of the defendant to cause harm to the petitioner. But a Government cannot be a guarantor that beneficial results will always flow to a group from its furnishing of educational and health services and administration. Whether its obligation to the petitioner requires the exercise of “due care,” or the “highest standard of care,” we hold that there can be no judicial establishment of a standard of care in providing these services. [Emphasis supplied]. Id. at 134.

In the footnote to this portion of the opinion, the Commission cited Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin v. United States, 165 Ct.Cl. 487, 493-494, cert. denied, 379 U.S. 946, 85 S.Ct. 441, 13 L.Ed.2d 544 (1964).

The important distinction is that in the Oneida case, swpra, the court found that the Government did owe a duty, similar to that of a fiduciary, toward the Oneida Tribe under the “fair and honorable dealings” provision, section 2(5) of the Indian Claims Commission Act, in dealing with the reservation timber of the Tribe. Having found that there was this duty or obligation of the Government under the Act, the court then said:

It is unimportant, in this case, to characterize that obligation precisely. Whether the responsibility be termed that of a guardian, a fiduciary, a trustee, a protector, or of a superior sovereign to a dependent people, the duty of care imposed upon the defendant would be the same. It would not reach the insurer’s level nor fall to that of an outsider. The measure of accountability depends, whatever the label, upon the whole complex of factors and elements which should be taken into consideration. The real question is: Did the Federal Government do whatever it was required to do, in the circumstances, to save the timber? That is the standard. [Emphasis supplied]. Id. at 494.

In applying the general standard, the court in Oneida, supra, relied upon further specific and established standards of evidence and law applicable to the case. However, the court decided that the Government had at least fulfilled its minimum obligation to the Tribe, and concurred with the dismissal of the Oneida petition by the Indian Claims Commission.

In the present case, we find that there was no duty of the Government to perform the specific obligations alleged in the petitions. But we are not prepared to agree with the statement of the Commission that “even going so far as to accept the theory of the petitions, we cannot find in the pleadings any setting out of any duty on the part of the defendant that is subject to judicial definition” and its further statement that “there can be no judicial establishment of a standard of care in providing these services.” If we were to accept the theory, as alleged in the petitions, that there is a duty of the Government as a guardian to adequately provide the specific services which petitioner alleges it undertook to perform for them, there could then be judicial establishment of a standard of care for the Government in providing these services, just as this court did in Oneida, supra.

The Commission, in questioning what standard could be used to define the extent of defendant’s duty, used education as an extreme example of the insoluble problems to be encountered in attempting to define the scope of defendant’s duty.

Nevertheless, our Supreme Court, once having determined the constitutional duty of state and local governments to provide adequate educational facilities, has thereupon judicially established a stand[1197]*1197ard of care required in providing these facilities.

In Sweatt v. Painter, 339 U.S. 629, 70 S.Ct. 848, 94 L.Ed.

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Bluebook (online)
427 F.2d 1194, 190 Ct. Cl. 790, 1970 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 114, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gila-river-pima-maricopa-indian-community-v-the-united-states-cc-1970.