United States v. Osage Wind, LLC

District Court, N.D. Oklahoma·Decided May 21, 2021·No. 4:14-cv-00704·Unknown

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF OKLAHOMA

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, )

) ) Plaintiff, ) ) and ) ) OSAGE MINERALS COUNCIL, )

) ) Intervenor-Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) Case No. 14-CV-704-GKF-JFJ ) OSAGE WIND, LLC, ) ENEL KANSAS, LLC, and ) ENEL GREEN POWER ) ) NORTH AMERICA, INC., ) ) Defendants.

OPINION AND ORDER

This matter comes before the court on the Partial Objections to Magistrate Judge’s Opinions and Orders [Doc. 218] of defendants Osage Wind, LLC; Enel Kansas, LLC; and Enel Green Power North America, Inc.1 For the reasons set forth below, the Objection is overruled and Osage Wind’s request that this court reverse portions of the Magistrate Judge’s Opinions and Orders at [Doc. 210] and [Doc. 214] is denied. Background and Procedural History This case, filed in 2014, presented the question of whether a large-scale excavation project undertaken by Osage Wind during the installation of eighty-four (84) wind turbines in Osage

1 For ease of reference, the court refers to defendants Osage Wind, LLC; Enel Kansas, LLC; and Enel Green Power North America, Inc., collectively, as “Osage Wind.” County, Oklahoma constituted “mining” under regulations governing development of minerals in the Osage Mineral Estate and therefore required a lease approved by the Secretary of Interior. [Doc. 2; Doc. 20]. United States District Judge James H. Payne said “no,” and, on September 30, 2015, entered Judgment in favor of Osage Wind. [Doc. 44; Doc. 45]. The United States, as trustee

of the Osage Mineral Estate, did not appeal the district court’s Judgment, but the Osage Minerals Council (OMC), acting on behalf of the Osage Nation, appealed. In a September 18, 2017 Decision, the Tenth Circuit reversed the district court, and held that, pursuant to 25 C.F.R. § 214, defendants’ “extraction, sorting, crushing, and use of minerals as part of its excavation work constituted ‘mineral development,’ thereby requiring a federally approved lease which Osage Wind failed to obtain.” [Doc. 78, p. 3; United States v. Osage Wind, LLC, 871 F.3d 1078, 1081-82 (10th Cir. 2017)]. The Circuit remanded the case to the district court for further proceedings consistent with the Decision. [Doc. 78, pp. 26-27]. On October 24, 2019, the Court Clerk randomly reassigned the case to the undersigned. [Doc. 89]. The court then permitted OMC to intervene in the remanded proceedings. [Doc. 136].

On July 1, 2020, this court issued an Opinion and Order limiting the United States and OMC to the relief requested in the Amended Complaint filed by the United States on December 12, 2014. [Doc. 161]; see also [Doc. 20]. Thereafter, OMC filed an Amended Complaint in Intervention. [Doc. 164]. In the Answer to OMC’s Amended Complaint in Intervention, Osage Wind asserted seventeen separate defenses. [Doc. 174]. On August 12, 2020, Osage Wind filed a motion to compel against the United States, seeking answers to three interrogatories (Interrogatories 5, 6, and 7) and responses to three requests for production (Requests for Production 4, 5, and 6) included in Osage Wind’s First Interrogatories and Requests for Production. [Doc. 177]. The interrogatories and requests for production at issue generally sought information and documents regarding the United States’ and/or Bureau of Indian Affairs’ communications with the OMC, Osage Nation, and other agencies regarding the wind turbine project. See generally [Doc. 177-4]. The United States asserted relevancy objections to the discovery requests. See generally [Doc. 187-1].

Osage Wind then filed a motion to compel against the Osage Minerals Council. [Doc. 179]. The motion sought, among other things, communications between the OMC and the Osage Nation concerning this litigation. [Id. at p. 12]. The parties fully briefed the motions to compel, and U.S. Magistrate Judge Jodi F. Jayne held a hearing on the motions, as well as two other pending discovery motions, on October 7, 2020. [Doc. 197]. At the conclusion of the hearing, the Magistrate Judge took the motions under advisement. While the discovery motions were pending, on November 13, 2020, the OMC sought judgment on the pleadings pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(c) relative to five of Osage Wind’s affirmative defenses: (1) estoppel, (2) laches, (3) waiver, (4) unclean hands, and (5) in pari delicto.

[Doc. 204]. On January 11, 2021, the court granted the OMC’s motion and precluded Osage Wind from asserting the equitable defenses of estoppel, laches, waiver, unclean hands, and in pari delicto.2 [Doc. 207]. Thereafter, on January 16, 2021, the Magistrate Judge issued an Opinion and Order regarding the pending discovery motions, including Osage Wind’s First Motion to Compel Against the United States, as well as against the OMC (“Discovery Order”). [Doc. 210]. The Magistrate Judge stated that the “discovery rulings reflect the district judge’s recent preclusion” of the estoppel, laches, waiver, unclean hands, and in pari delicto affirmative defenses. [Doc. 210, p. 3].

2 For ease of reference, the court refers to the January 11, 2021 Opinion and Order as the “Affirmative Defense Order.” In light of the preclusion of the equitable defenses, the Magistrate Judge framed the dispositive issue as “whether the requested discovery is relevant to the potential remedies of ejectment of, and a permanent injunction against, the existence and operation of the Project.” [Doc. 210, p. 22]. Looking first to the applicable test, the Magistrate Judge observed that, in the Affirmative

Defense Order, this court indicated it would apply the “balancing of equities” test articulated by the Tenth Circuit in Davilla v. Enable Midstream Partners, L.P., 913 F.3d 959 (10th Cir. 2019), to the claims for permanent injunction and easement, and opined that such test “does not include any backward-looking considerations of past conduct or knowledge.” [Doc. 210, p. 23]. Rather, the Magistrate Judge characterized the Davilla test as “focus[ing] on the present balance of harms to the parties and the public.” [Id.]. Because the requested discovery related to Osage Wind’s activities prior to the litigation and defendants “[did] not attempt to link their discovery requests to any present equitable concerns,” Magistrate Judge Jayne concluded the requested discovery was irrelevant to the issues remaining in this litigation. [Doc. 210, pp. 21-25]. Thus, the Magistrate Judge denied Osage Wind’s motions to compel. [Id.].3

Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 72(a), Osage Wind now seeks review of the Discovery Order as to the rulings on its motions to compel against the United States [Doc. 177] and the OMC [Doc. 179], respectively. Both the government and the OMC responded in opposition [Doc. 223; Doc. 224], and Osage Wind filed a reply [Doc. 225]. The Objections are therefore ripe for the court’s determination.

3 On March 9, 2021, the court amended the Affirmative Defense Order solely to correct a typographical error therein. See [Doc. 219]. Because the Discovery Order and the instant briefing cite to the January 11, 2021 Opinion and Order in the briefing and the March 9 amendment did not substantively alter the court’s analysis, the court will also refer to the January 11, 2021 Opinion and Order—the Affirmative Defense Order—unless specifically noted.

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