Lula Stago v. Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation

CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedFebruary 23, 2026
Docket3:25-cv-08020
StatusUnknown

This text of Lula Stago v. Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation (Lula Stago v. Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lula Stago v. Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation, (D. Ariz. 2026).

Opinion

1 WO 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

9 Lula Stago, No. CV-25-08020-PCT-JAT

10 Plaintiff, ORDER

11 v.

12 Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation, 13 Defendant. 14 15 Pending before the Court are Plaintiff Lula Stago’s Motion for Summary Judgment 16 (Doc. 19) and Defendant Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation’s (“ONHIR”) 17 Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 21). Both Motions have been fully briefed. 18 (Doc. 25; Doc. 28). For the following reasons, Plaintiff’s Motion will be granted, 19 Defendant’s Motion will be denied, and the matter will be remanded for further 20 proceedings.1 21 I. BACKGROUND 22 Plaintiff seeks judicial review of an administrative decision by ONHIR denying her 23 relocation benefits under the Navajo-Hopi Settlement Act. Pub. L. No. 93-531, 88 Stat. 24 1712 (1974) (the “Settlement Act”). 25 A. The Settlement Act 26 The Settlement Act divided land that was jointly used by the Navajo Nation and

27 1 Plaintiff requested oral argument. However, the Court finds that oral argument would not assist in the resolution of the present issues and therefore will rule on the pending motions 28 without oral argument. LRCiv. 7.2(f); Partridge v. Reich, 141 F.3d 920, 926 (9th Cir. 1998). 1 Hopi Tribe into two areas: (1) the Hopi Partitioned Lands (“HPL”); and (2) the Navajo 2 Partitioned Lands (“NPL”). Clinton v. Babbitt, 180 F.3d 1081, 1084 (9th Cir. 1999). The 3 Settlement Act also created a federal agency—now known as ONHIR—to provide services 4 and benefits to relocate individuals who resided on land allocated to the other tribe. Bedoni 5 v. Navajo-Hopi Indian Relocation Comm’n, 878 F.2d 1119, 1121–22 (9th Cir. 1989). To 6 be eligible for relocation benefits under the Settlement Act, a Navajo applicant must prove 7 that: (1) he was a legal resident of the HPL on December 22, 1974, and (2) he continued to 8 be a resident of the HPL when he became a “head of household.” See 25 C.F.R. 9 § 700.147(a), §§ 700.69(a)(2), (c); see also Begay v. Off. of Navajo and Hopi Indian 10 Relocation, No. CV-20-08102-PCT-SMB, 2021 WL 4247919, at *1 (D. Ariz. Sept. 17, 11 2021), aff’d, No. 21-16937, 2022 WL 17038707 (9th Cir. Nov. 17, 2022). The applicant 12 bears the burden of proving legal residence and head of household status. 25 C.F.R. 13 § 700.147(b). 14 B. Facts and Procedural History 15 Plaintiff is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation and applied for relocation 16 benefits on July 6, 2009, and again on August 12, 2009. (Doc. 14-1 at 32, 43; Doc. 21 at 17 32). ONHIR informed Plaintiff that her application had been denied on November 19, 18 2010. (Doc. 14-1 at 73). ONHIR concluded that Plaintiff failed to meet the eligibility 19 requirement of having resided on the HPL on or before December 22, 1973 and as of 20 December 22, 1974 because: (1) she was not enumerated on the HPL, (2) she only had a 21 cornfield and some grazing land but no structures on the HPL during that time, (3) the 22 camp where her family resided was on the Hopi Reservation, not the HPL, and (4) her 23 family’s move-off date was in the fall of 1974, before December 22, 1974. (Doc. 14-1 at 24 74). Plaintiff appealed (Id. at 79), and on December 20, 2013, a consolidated hearing was 25 held before an Independent Hearing Officer (“IHO”) for Plaintiff and six other applicants 26 related to Plaintiff that claimed the same HPL homesite as Plaintiff. (Doc. 14-4 at 23; Doc. 27 14-11 at 293). The other applicants were Mary Rose Charley (Plaintiff’s aunt), Frieda 28 Thompson (Plaintiff’s sister), Rose Calvin (Plaintiff’s cousin), Susie Yellowman 1 (Plaintiff’s cousin), James John (Plaintiff’s cousin), and David John (Plaintiff’s cousin). 2 (Doc. 14-11 at 279, 346; see Doc. 20 at 10, 13). 3 At the December 20, 2013 hearing, the parties stipulated that Plaintiff met the 4 requirements to establish she was a head of household by December 22, 1974. (Doc. 14- 5 11 at 293; Doc. 14-4 at 24). The primary issue before the IHO was whether Plaintiff’s 6 residency on the HPL continued through December 22, 1974. (Doc. 14-11 at 294; Doc. 14- 7 4 at 25; Doc. 21 at 2). 8 Crucial to several of Plaintiff’s arguments in this action are prior ONHIR decisions 9 related to Harris Chezumpena (Plaintiff’s mother’s first cousin, which she referred to as 10 her grandfather) and his daughters Elvira and Bertha Chezumpena. (Doc. 19 at 6; Doc. 14- 11 3 at 112; see Docs. 20, 22 ¶¶ 18, 25; Doc. 14-4 at 54). Plaintiff and the other applicants 12 claim to have occupied the same customary use area on the HPL as Harris Chezumpena 13 through the mid-1970s. (Doc. 19 at 3, 6). Harris was certified by ONHIR for relocation 14 benefits. (Docs. 20, 22 ¶ 35). In decisions related to Elvira’s and Bertha’s applications for 15 benefits, the IHO found that the family moved from the HPL to the NPL in 1976 and were 16 legal residents of the HPL on December 22, 1974. (Doc. 14-6 at 3, 15). Elvira and Bertha 17 were denied benefits for other reasons. (Docs. 20, 22 ¶¶ 23–24, 30–31). 18 At Plaintiff’s hearing, ONHIR agreed “to stipulate that Mr. Harris Chezumpena had 19 a legal residence on the [HPL] as of December 22, 1974” based on Harris Chezumpena’s 20 certification for benefits and the IHO’s findings in Elvira and Bertha Chezumpena’s cases. 21 (Doc. 14-5 at 13–14). However, the parties did not agree on the location of Harris 22 Chezumpena’s HPL site, what improvements were located at the site, who else resided at 23 the site, or other such matters relevant to Plaintiff’s appeal. (Id. at 13; Doc. 14-6 at 61–62; 24 Doc. 22 at 33 ¶ 11; Doc. 26 at 2 ¶ 11). In ONHIR’s post-hearing brief, ONHIR stated that 25 ONHIR “agrees that Harris Chezumpena lived on the HPL until 1976” and that he raised 26 Rose Calvin, Susie Yellowman, James John, and David John. (Doc. 14-9 at 56; Doc. 14-6 27 at 62). ONHIR suggested that the question for the IHO is whether on December 22, 1974, 28 the applicants “were still legal residents of the HPL or whether they had established legal 1 residences outside the HPL prior to that date.” (Doc. 14-9 at 56). 2 At the hearing, Plaintiff and the other six applicants testified on behalf of Plaintiff. 3 (Doc. 14-4 at 29–114; Doc. 14-5 at 13–80). Joseph Shelton testified for ONHIR. (Doc. 14- 4 4 at 114–15; Doc. 14-5 at 1–13). The applicants testified that the family’s customary use 5 area was large and shared by the entire extended family, encompassing site 6, where 6 Plaintiff, Frieda Thompson, and Mary Rose Charley primarily resided, and sites 2, 3, and 7 4, where Harris Chezumpena and the other applicants primarily resided. (Doc. 14-4 at 30– 8 33, 35–37, 81, 85–86, 93–94, 96, 104, 110; Doc. 14-5 at 18, 23, 28, 31, 43–45, 48, 54, 58, 9 63–64, 72). 10 Plaintiff testified that she and her family occupied the HPL site from 1947 until 11 January 1975. (Doc. 14-4 at 33, 54). She testified that her family started to move their 12 livestock to the NPL after her family’s grazing permits were cancelled in 1972, but that the 13 family did not move to the NPL until January 1975 and continued to return to site 6 in the 14 summers to farm through January 1975. (Id. at 37–40). Frieda Thompson testified that her 15 family started moving in January 1975 and herded their sheep off the HPL in January 1976. 16 (Id. at 98, 104). Susie Yellowman testified that the family left the HPL site in 1976. (Doc. 17 14-5 at 50). John James also testified that the family left the HPL site in 1976 or 1977 and 18 sold the family’s livestock in 1975 or 1976. (Id. at 64–66).

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Lula Stago v. Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lula-stago-v-office-of-navajo-and-hopi-indian-relocation-azd-2026.