Timbisha Shoshone Tribe v. United States Department of Interior

290 F.R.D. 589, 2013 WL 1451360, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 51216
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedApril 9, 2013
DocketNo. 2:11-cv-00995-MCE-DAD
StatusPublished

This text of 290 F.R.D. 589 (Timbisha Shoshone Tribe v. United States Department of Interior) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Timbisha Shoshone Tribe v. United States Department of Interior, 290 F.R.D. 589, 2013 WL 1451360, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 51216 (E.D. Cal. 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

MORRISON C. ENGLAND, JR., Chief Judge.

The Timbisha Shoshone Tribe (“Tribe”), Joseph Kennedy, Angela Boland, Grace Goad, Erick Mason, Hillary Frank, Madeline Esteves and Pauline Esteves filed their Second Amended Complaint (“SAC”) in this action on May 29, 2012, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief against Defendants United States Department of the Interior (“DOI”), Bureau of Indian Affairs (“BIA”), Donald Laverdure, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs, Amy Dutschke (“Dutschke”), Director of the Pacific Regional Office of the BIA, Troy Burdick (“Burdick”), Superintendent of the Central California Agency of the BIA, Margaret Cortez, Bill Eddy, Earl Frank, George Gholson and Clyde Nichols (collectively, “Defendants”). Plaintiffs allege injuries suffered as a result of two DOI decisions issued by then DOI Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk on March 1, 2011 (“EHD I”) and July 29, 2011 (“EHD II”) (collectively referred to as the “EHDs”). Presently before the Court is Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs SAC. (ECF No. 61; ECF No. 64.) For the following reasons, the Court will grant Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss for failure to join indispensable parties.1 The Court will not permit further leave to amend.

BACKGROUND2

A. Tribal History

In 1982, the DOI formally recognized the Tribe as a sovereign Indian nation with whom the United States would maintain government-to-government relations. The Tribe organized itself under a written Constitution that establishes the General Council as the Tribe’s supreme governing body. The General Council has delegated some of its powers to a five-member Tribal Council.

The Tribe’s Constitution limits tribal membership to persons listed on the 1978 Base Roll and to certain of those members’ lineal descendants. The Constitution requires that the Tribal Enrollment Committee “remove any person enrolled erroneously, fraudulent[592]*592ly or otherwise incorrectly enrolled from the membership list.”

The Tribe holds general elections for the Tribal Council every November, and members serve two-year, staggered terms. The Tribe’s Constitution requires that an Election Board certify these elections. The Tribe’s “Election Ordinance” governs the actions of the Election Board. Because members of this Election Board may only be removed for specific, non-political reasons, the Board generally remains unchanged from year to year.

B. The Tribe’s Leadership Dispute

The current lawsuit is the culmination of a long-standing dispute over the election and composition of the proper Tribal Council. While it is undisputed that in 2006 the Tribal Council consisted of Joe Kennedy (“Kennedy”), who was elected as Chairman, Ed Beaman (“Beaman”), Madeline Esteves, Virginia Beck (“Beck”) and Cleveland Casey (“Casey”) (“2006 Council”), since then multiple factions have claimed to lead the Tribe.

The current fracture in the Tribe’s governance began on August 25, 2007, when the 2006 Council held a Tribal Council meeting. Charges were brought against Beaman and Beck seeking their removal from office. Beaman, Beck and Casey left the meeting, though Casey returned at some point before eventually leaving again. The remaining members of the 2006 Council determined Beaman and Beck had resigned, and the council purportedly replaced Beck with another Tribe member (hereafter this group is referred to as the “2006 Kennedy Faction”), while leaving Beaman’s seat vacant for the next election. Beaman, Beck and Casey (the “Beaman Faction”) subsequently met separately and passed resolutions also purporting to take control of the Tribe’s administration.

In November of 2007, both the 2006 Kennedy Faction and the Beaman Faction held general elections that resulted in the election of the “2007 Kennedy Council” and the “Beaman Council.” On December 14, 2007, Bur-dick issued a decision declining to recognize the results of either election. The 2007 Kennedy Council subsequently called a General Council meeting, which convened on January 20, 2008. Satisfied a quorum existed, the General Council adopted several resolutions purporting to ratify, as is relevant here, the general election resulting in the election of the 2007 Kennedy Council and the 2006 Kennedy Faction’s interpretation of the term “resign” in the Timbisha Constitution.

On February 29, 2008, Burdick rescinded his December 14, 2007, decision and purported to recognize the 2007 Kennedy Council. The Beaman Council appealed that decision (“Beaman Appeal”), staying its effect.

On September 25, 2008, the 2007 Kennedy Council Enrollment Committee performed a review of the Tribe’s membership rolls and determined seventy-four people did not qualify for Tribe membership. The Enrollment Committee notified those members they were to be disenrolled, and, when the time to appeal expired, the 2007 Kennedy Council performed the ministerial act of adopting resolutions confirming the membership revocations. During this same time frame, in September 2008, George Gholson (“Gholson”), a member of the Tribe purportedly disenrolled pursuant to the above 2007 Kennedy Council efforts, convened another General Council meeting. At this meeting, Gholson allegedly recalled Kennedy and replaced him with both Gholson and another individual. On October 17, 2008, based on the actions taken at that General Council meeting, Burdick issued a decision recognizing Gholson as the Chairman of the Tribe. Although Burdick’s decision was not yet effective, Gholson allegedly used it to justify the removal of Tribal assets from the Tribal Office on the Death Valley reservation.

Just a few weeks later, on November 10, 2008, Burdick issued another decision recognizing the 2006 Council. The following day, the 2007 Kennedy Council Tribal Election Board conducted a general election, resulting in the election of the “2008 Kennedy Council.” No other election was held at this time.

On December 4, 2008, Defendant Dutschke’s predecessor, Regional Director Dale Morris (“Morris”), nonetheless recognized Gholson as the Tribe’s chairman. A few days later, on December 12, 2008, Gholson again allegedly removed Tribal property [593]*593from the Tribal Office in Death Valley. On December 22, 2008, Morris rescinded his decision recognizing Gholson as the Tribe’s chairman. Gholson nevertheless refused to return any Tribal property.

On February 17, 2009, Morris reversed Burdick’s decision, which recognized the 2007 Kennedy Council. Additionally, on March 24, 2009, Morris reversed Burdick’s October 17, 2008, decision recognizing Gholson. Morris proposed in both decisions to recognize the 2006 Tribal Council. The 2008 Kennedy Council appealed Morris’s February 17 decision (“Kennedy Appeal”), and Gholson, among others, appealed the March 24 decision. These two groups will hereafter be referred to as the “Kennedy Faction” and the “Gholson Faction.” Echo Hawk took jurisdiction over and consolidated these appeals.

In November of both 2009 and 2010, the Kennedy Faction and the Gholson Faction each purportedly held general elections resulting in the election of what will be referred to as the “current Kennedy Council” and the “Gholson Council.” According to Plaintiffs, the Gholson Faction permitted dis-enrolled members to vote in its elections and to elect to its council disenrolled members or individuals who did not qualify for membership.

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Bluebook (online)
290 F.R.D. 589, 2013 WL 1451360, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 51216, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/timbisha-shoshone-tribe-v-united-states-department-of-interior-caed-2013.