Marceau v. Blackfeet Housing Authority

455 F.3d 974, 2006 WL 2035345
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedJuly 20, 2006
Docket04-35210
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 455 F.3d 974 (Marceau v. Blackfeet Housing Authority) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Marceau v. Blackfeet Housing Authority, 455 F.3d 974, 2006 WL 2035345 (9th Cir. 2006).

Opinions

PREGERSON, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiffs represent members of the Blackfeet Indian tribe who purchased or leased homes built under the auspices of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) Mutual Help and Homeownership Program (“MHHO Program”). Plaintiffs’ homes were built with wood foundations, using wood pressure-treated with arsenic and other toxic chemicals. Plaintiffs allege that this use of wood foundations caused their homes to deteriorate, and that the present condition of the homes has caused and continues to cause severe health problems for the homes’ residents. They sued both HUD and the Blackfeet Tribal Housing Authority (“Housing Authority”) and its board members alleging numerous statutory and contractual violations. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, with the limitations discussed below. We reverse the district court’s dismissal of the claims against the Housing Authority, and affirm dismissal of the claims against HUD.

I. Factual Background1

Pursuant to the goals set out in the United States Housing Act of 1937, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1437-1440 (2005), HUD developed the MHHO Program. The MHHO Program was designed to meet the housing needs of low-income American Indian families. HUD entered into agreements called “Annual Contributions Contracts” with tribal housing authorities under which HUD agreed to provide a specified amount of money to fund projects undertaken by the housing authorities and preapproved by HUD. See 24 C.F.R. § 805.102 (1979); id. § 805.206. After securing funding from HUD, the Housing Authority, in turn, [977]*977would contract with eligible American Indian families. See id. § 805.406. The families were required to contribute land, labor, or materials to the building of their house, see id. § 805.408, and after occupying the house, each family was required to make monthly payments in an amount calibrated to their income, see id. § 805.416(a)(l)(ii). The homebuyers were made responsible for maintenance of the house. See id. § 805.418(a). Until 1988, when the program was formalized in the Indian Housing Act of 1988, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1437aa-1437ee (1988), repealed by Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996, Pub.L. No. 104-330, 110 Stat. 4016 (1996), HUD operated the MHHO Program under a series of regulations and its own “Indian Housing Handbook.” See H.R.Rep. No. 100-604 (1988), reprinted in 1988 U.S.C.C.A.N. 791, 793.

In 1977, the Blackfeet Tribe established a separate entity, the Blackfeet Housing Authority, as required by HUD’s regulations. See 24 C.F.R. § 805.109(c) (1979) (requiring, as a prerequisite to receiving MHHO funding, that tribes form a tribal housing authority). The Blackfeet Tribe adopted HUD’s model enabling ordinance, reprinted in 24 C.F.R. § 805, subpt. A, app. I (1979).2 In the enabling ordinance, the Blackfeet Housing Authority was charged with “[ajlleviating the acute shortage of decent, safe and sanitary dwellings for persons of low income” and “[rjemedy-ing unsafe and [u]nsanitary housing conditions that are injurious to the public health, safety and morals.” Blackfeet Tribal Ordinance No. 7, art. II, §§ 1-2 (Jan. 4, 1977). Thereafter, HUD granted the Housing Authority authorization and funding to build 153 homes.

Construction of the homes took place between 1979 and 1980. The homes, at least in retrospect, were not constructed well. The homes were built with wood foundations, and the wood products used to build the foundations were chemically treated with arsenic and other toxic chemicals. Plaintiffs allege, as the crux of their claim, that HUD required the use of wood foundations over the objection of tribal members, and that the Housing Authority acceded to that directive.

In the ensuing years, the foundations were, predictably, vulnerable to moisture accumulation and structural instability. Today, some of the houses are uninhabitable due to toxic mold and dried sewage residues. There has been a high incidence of cancer, asthma, kidney failure, respiratory problems, and other serious health problems among residents of the homes. Many residents have been advised to leave their houses for health reasons; some residents cannot leave because there are, quite simply, no affordable housing options in the area.

Plaintiffs represent those who purchased or leased these MHHO homes either directly or indirectly from the Housing Authority. They have made significant monthly payments and investments of their own time and/or resources, as required under the MHHO program. After it became clear that the houses were substandard and possibly hazardous, Plaintiffs sought assistance from the Housing Authority and from HUD in remedying the construction defects. When they received no assistance from either entity, Plaintiffs filed this class action complaint on August 2, 2002, in the District Court for the District of Montana seeking declaratory and [978]*978injunctive relief and damages. They named, as Defendants, the Housing Authority, its board members, and Mel Martinez, then-secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Plaintiffs allege that HUD and the Blackfeet Housing Authority violated statutory, contractual, and fiduciary duties owed to them.

HUD Defendants filed a motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). The Tribal Defendants filed a similar motion to dismiss based on tribal immunity. After hearings and further briefing, the district court granted both parties’ motions to dismiss. Plaintiffs appealed.

II. Standard of Review

We review the question of subject matter jurisdiction de novo. See Coyle v. P.T. Garuda Indon., 363 F.3d 979, 984 n. 7 (9th Cir.2004). Questions of tribal and sovereign immunity are also reviewed de novo. See Orff v. United States, 358 F.3d 1137, 1142 (9th Cir.2004); Linneen v. Gila River Indian Cmty., 276 F.3d 489, 492 (9th Cir.2002). Dismissal for failure to state a claim is likewise reviewed de novo. See Decker v. Advantage Fund, Ltd., 362 F.3d 593, 595-96 (9th Cir.2004).

III. Analysis

A. Tribal Immunity for Board Members of the Blackfeet Housing Authority

An Indian tribe enjoys sovereign immunity from suit except where Congress authorizes the suit or the tribe waives its immunity. See Kiowa Tribe of Okla. v. Mfg. Techs., Inc., 523 U.S. 751, 754, 118 S.Ct. 1700, 140 L.Ed.2d 981 (1998).

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455 F.3d 974, 2006 WL 2035345, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marceau-v-blackfeet-housing-authority-ca9-2006.