Northern Valley Indian Health v. Becerra

• Court: District Court, E.D. California
• Decided: October 9, 2024
• Docket: 2:24-cv-02154
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 AHdoabmbs ,P S. tBraauilse,y D (eCaAn &B aWr Nalok.e 2r,7 L82L0P8 ) 2 1903 21st St., 3rd Floor Sacramento, CA 95811 3 Phone: (916) 442-9444 Fax: (916) 442-8344 4 Email: abailey@hobbsstraus.com

5 Attorneys for Plaintiff

6 PHILLIP A. TALBERT United States Attorney 7 JOSEPH B. FRUEH Assistant United States Attorney 8 501 I Street, Suite 10-100 Sacramento, CA 95814 9 E-mail: joseph.frueh@usdoj.gov Telephone: (916) 554-2702 10 Facsimile: (916) 554-2900

11 Attorneys for Defendants

14 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

15 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

17 NORTHERN VALLEY INDIAN HEALTH, No. 2:24-CV-02154-DJC-DMC INC., 18 STIPULATION AND ORDER FOR STAYING Plaintiff, CASE 19 v. 20 XAVIER BECERRA, in his official capacity as 21 Secretary, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, et al., 22 Defendants. 23

24 25 26 27 28 1 STIPULATION AND ORDER 2 IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED, by and between the parties and subject to Court approval, that 3 this action be stayed while the Indian Health Service conducts a national consultation with Native 4 American Tribes on a methodology to value claims recently recognized by the Supreme Court in 5 Becerra v. San Carlos Apache Tribe, 144 S. Ct. 1428 (June 6, 2024); and that the parties file a Joint 6 Status Report on or before December 18, 2024. The reasons for this stipulation are as follows. 7 1. A court may stay proceedings as part of its inherent power “to control the disposition of 8 the causes on its docket with economy of time and effort for itself, for counsel, and for litigants.” 9 Landis v. N. Am. Co., 299 U.S. 248, 254 (1936); see also, e.g., Clinton v. Jones, 520 U.S. 681, 706 10 (1997) (“The District Court has broad discretion to stay proceedings as an incident to its power to 11 control its own docket.”). 12 2. This case involves claims for “contract support costs” associated with program income 13 that a Tribal organization expends on health programs that it has contracted to operate under the Indian 14 Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (“ISDEAA”), 25 U.S.C. §§ 5301–5423. Plaintiff filed 15 this action shortly after the Supreme Court recognized such claims as cognizable under the ISDEAA in 16 Becerra v. San Carlos Apache Tribe, 144 S. Ct. 1428 (June 6, 2024). 17 3. Following the Supreme Court’s decision, the Indian Health Service convened meetings of 18 a Contract Support Cost Advisory Group in July and August 2024. In those meetings, Tribal 19 representatives and representatives of the Indian Health Service discussed possible methodologies for 20 determining contract support costs following the Supreme Court’s decision. On September 10, 2024, 21 the Indian Health Service initiated a national consultation seeking feedback from Tribes on the Agency’s 22 proposals to calculate contract support costs related to expenditures of program income.1 23 4. The parties are hopeful that they will be in a position to discuss possible resolution of the 24 claims in this case after the Indian Health Service has completed consultation with Tribes and adopted a 25 methodology to calculate the type of contract support costs recognized in Becerra v. San Carlos Apache 26 Tribe. Accordingly, a stay will promote judicial economy and efficiency. 27 1 See Letter from Indian Health Service to Tribal Leaders (Sept. 10, 2024), https://www.ihs.gov/ 28 sites/newsroom/themes/responsive2017/display_objects/documents/2024_Letters/DTLL_091024.pdf. 1 5. Other cases involving similar claims have been stayed for the same reasons, including, 2 for example, Navajo Health Foundation-Sage Memorial Hospital, Inc. v. Becerra, Case No. 3:23-cv- 3 08065-DLR (D. Ariz.). 4 6. The parties propose filing a Joint Status Report on or before December 18, 2024. 5 6 Dated: October 3, 2024 HOBBS, STRAUS, DEAN & WALKER, LLP 7 By: /s/ Adam P. Bailey (authorized 10/3/2024) ADAM P. BAILEY 8 Attorneys for Plaintiff 9 10 Dated: October 3, 2024 PHILLIP A. TALBERT United States Attorney 11 By: /s/ Joseph B. Frueh 12 JOSEPH B. FRUEH Assistant United States Attorney 13 Attorneys for Defendants 14

15 16 IT IS SO ORDERED 17

18 Dated: October 8, 2024 /s/ Daniel J. Calabretta THE HONORABLE DANIEL J. CALABRETTA 19 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 20

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