Goodeagle v. United States

105 Fed. Cl. 164, 2012 U.S. Claims LEXIS 606, 2012 WL 2131109
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedJune 12, 2012
DocketNo. 11-582 L
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 105 Fed. Cl. 164 (Goodeagle v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Federal Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Goodeagle v. United States, 105 Fed. Cl. 164, 2012 U.S. Claims LEXIS 606, 2012 WL 2131109 (uscfc 2012).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

GEORGE W. MILLER, Judge.

On September 9, 2011, plaintiffs, enrolled members of the federally recognized Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma (“Quapaw Tribe” or “Tribe”) and owners of allotments of land managed by defendant, the United States, filed this putative class action alleging that [167]*167defendant breached fiduciary duties and trust obligations owed to plaintiffs. See Compl. (docket entry 1). Defendant has filed a motion to dismiss plaintiffs’ complaint for lack of jurisdiction pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1) of the Rules of the Court of Federal Claims (“RCFC”). Defendant’s motion relies upon 28 U.S.C. § 1500 and the relationship between this action and a class action filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Cobell v. Salazar, No. 1:96-cv-01285-TFH (D.D.C. filed June 10, 1996). For the following reasons, the Court GRANTS defendant’s motion.

I. Background

A Instant Action

Plaintiffs are enrolled members of the federally recognized Tribe and are sueeessors-in-interest to an undivided ownership interest in allotments of land ratified by defendant in the late nineteenth century and in allotments of land located within the Tribe’s 1833 reservation. Compl. 1, ¶¶ 1-9; see also id. ¶¶ 12-17 (describing history of Tribe and its land); id. ¶ 18 (describing allotment of land to Tribal members). Defendant has managed the land since it was allotted to members of the Tribe. Id. ¶ 18.

In 2004, the Tribe, which is not a party to this action, settled “a suit for an accounting of historic federal management of the funds and assets of the Tribe” with the Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and others. Id. ¶ 19. The Tribe agreed to dismiss its suit and to waive any right to obtain “an accounting of its trust assets or asset management history of its trust assets for all time periods up to and including” the date of the settlement in exchange for an analysis (“Quapaw Analysis”) “of the federal government’s management of certain Tribal assets, as well as of the Government’s management of the lands and other assets allotted to eight individual members of the Tribe.” Id. The parties agreed that, “upon completion of the Quapaw Analysis, the Tribe would be deemed to have been furnished with an accounting of the Tribe’s trust assets.” Id. The complaint in this case alleges that the settlement agreement with respect to the Tribe’s suit “specifically reserved” the Tribe’s claims for money damages and the settlement agreement “did not purport to compromise or waive the claim of any individual Tribal member for money damages.” Id. ¶ 20.

In June 2010, the Quapaw Analysis was completed and transmitted to the government. According to plaintiffs in this action, “[t]he Quapaw Analysis identified numerous and pervasive breaches of the Government’s fiduciary duty of trust as to the assets of the Quapaw Tribe and its members.” Id. ¶ 23.

Plaintiffs’ claims in this court arise from a number of defendant’s alleged actions and failures to act. First, plaintiffs allege that defendant “fail[ed] to properly manage amounts due and owing to the Quapaw Tribal members under leases, permits, and agreements.” Id. at 1. Second, plaintiffs assert that they are bringing suit as a result of “government actions or inactions relating to certain real property, personal property ..., mineral rights, as well as other sums due and owing to them by operation of law.” Id. at 1-2. Third, plaintiffs allege that defendant engaged in “serious and sustained mismanagement of the Quapaw Tribal members’ Individual Indian Money [ (“IIM”) ] accounts, trust accounts, and other monetary assets.” Id. at 2. Fourth, defendant allegedly “mismanage[d] ... the natural resources and other assets on Quapaw Tribal members’ trust/restricted lands.” Id. Fifth, plaintiffs allege that defendant “continu[es] [to] breach ... trust [obligations] by allowing non-Indians to appropriate large quantities of valuable restricted property for no payment to that property’s owners for many years.” Id. Moreover, defendant allegedly breached trust obligations by “recently allowing a mining company to continue taking ... property for far less than that property’s fair value ... and for recently advising the property’s owners to sign a release indemnifying the mining company against any claim of liability for appropriating the Quapaw’s members’ property.” Id.

Plaintiffs assert seven causes of action against defendant: (1) failure to collect rents and royalties for mineral rights and to properly manage those assets, (2) failure to pro-[168]*168teet Tribal members’ mineral interests, (3) failure to collect rents and payments for town lots, (4) mismanagement of agricultural leases and rents, (5) failure to protect natural resources and to protect the environment, (6) failure to protect Tribal members and otherwise act in their best interests, and (7) failure to adequately manage IIM accounts. See id. ¶¶ 28-65. Plaintiffs seek, among other things, “[a] money judgment [against defendant] in an amount as yet unascertained, according to proof at trial.”1 Id. Prayer for Relief.

B. Cobell

In 1996, beneficiaries of IIM trust accounts brought a putative class action in the D.C. district court against the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs regarding the defendants’ management of IIM accounts.2 See Cobell v. Salazar, No. 1:96-cv-01285-TFH, slip op. at 1 (D.D.C. July 27, 2011) [hereinafter “Cobell Order Granting Final Approval of Settlement”]; Def.’s Mot. to Dismiss (“Def.’s Mot.”) Ex. 6 (copy of Cobell Order Granting Final Approval of Settlement) (docket entry 5, Nov. 7, 2011).

The plaintiffs sought “declaratory and in-junctive relief construing the trust obligations of the defendants to members of the plaintiff class, and declaring that the defen-' dants had breached, and were in continuing breach of, their trust duties to the plaintiff class members, an order compelling [the] defendants to perform those legally mandated obligations, an accounting, and the correction and restatement of their IIM accounts.” Cobell Order Granting Final Approval of Settlement 1.

In 1997, the district court certified Cobell as a class action pursuant to Rule 23(b)(1)(A) and (b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (“FRCP”). See Cobell v. Babbitt, No. 1:96-cv-1285-RCL, slip op. (D.D.C. Feb. 4, 1997) [hereinafter “1997 Cobell Order Certifying Class Action”]; Def.’s Mot. Ex. 1 (copy of 1997 Cobell Order Certifying Class Action).

In 1999, the district court “held, among other things, that [the] defendants were in breach of certain of their respective trust duties and ordered [the] defendants to provide [the] plaintiffs with an accounting of their IIM accounts.” Cobell Order Granting Final Approval of Settlement 2 (citing Cobell v. Babbitt, 91 F.Supp.2d 1 (D.D.C.1999)).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
105 Fed. Cl. 164, 2012 U.S. Claims LEXIS 606, 2012 WL 2131109, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/goodeagle-v-united-states-uscfc-2012.