Judge keeps Oneida land claim in New York alive
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Filed Under:
Law
A federal judge on Monday refused to shut the door on the
long-running Oneida land claim in New York.
In 1974, the Oneidas of New York, Wisconsin and Canada sued
the state and two counties over 250,000 acres of stolen land.
The tribes said Congress never authorized the transactions
that whittled down the reservation they were promised by treaty.
After two trips to the U.S. Supreme Court and multiple attempts to settle,
the case remained alive. But recent legal developments put the
claim in doubt as the state and the counties sought an outright
end to the suit.
Judge Lawrence E. Kahn acknowledged those developments in
his 32-page opinion yesterday. He said the Supreme Court --
in a related Oneida case -- has
raised concerns about the "disruptive" nature of tribal claims,
a move that led the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals to dismiss
the Cayuga land claim in New York.
Kahn, however, said he would not go that far.
"The court does not believe that the higher courts intended to or
have barred
plaintiffs from receiving any relief; to do so would deny the Oneidas
the right to seek redress for
long-suffered wrongs," he wrote.
At the same time, Kahn agreed that the Supreme Court has foreclosed
certain remedies for the Oneida losses. He rejected return of
the land to the tribes and ejection of current landowners,
agreeing in part with a motion filed by the state and
the two counties.
On this point, Kahn said the Oneidas are not at fault, noting
how they have "diligently" pursued their claim for decades.
That appears to contrast with the Cayuga case, in which
the 2nd Circuit said the tribes waited too long to file suit.
However, he said it doesn't matter when the Oneidas started
seeking the return of their land -- it only matters that
such remedies are "disruptive" in nature.
"Past injustices suffered by the Oneidas cannot be remedied
by creating present and future injustices," Kahn wrote.
But a major portion of the Oneida claim stays alive under
the ruling. Kahn said the Supreme Court and the 2nd Circuit
haven't blocked the Oneidas from seeking monetary damages
based on the claim that they were inadequately compensated.
"This claim is best styled as a contract claim that seeks to
reform or revise a contract that is void for unconscionability," Kahn
wrote. "This type of contract claim is not
disruptive."
Kahn said his court can "reform" the tribal-state
land transactions through its "equitable power" in a non-disruptive
way. The ruling gives the Oneidas an opening to
prove they were "deceived" by the state and that any compensation
they may have received was inadequate.
"The court will consider several factors when determining the fair market value of the land, which is critical to any finding regarding the inadequacy of the consideration; these are: the prices at which the land sold, the extent of the demand, the quality of the land and its use at the time, the price paid by the Government for similar land at about the same time under treaties with other Indians, and the prices paid by persons other than Indians buying similar land in the locality from private citizens," the ruling stated.
"If plaintiffs can establish their fair compensation claim for the challenged transactions, they are entitled to damages in the amount of the difference between the fair market value of the land at the time and the consideration received by the Oneida Indian Nation minus any offsets, including, but not limited to, sales costs incurred by the state," it continued.
Kahn authorized his order for appeal, giving any of the parties a chance to take it to the
2nd Circuit The plaintiffs are the Oneida Nation of New York, the Oneida Nation of
Wisconsin and the Oneida First Nation in Thames, Ontario.
The defendants are the state of New York and Madison and Oneida
counties.
The Oneida Nation in New York has repurchased, on the open market,
more than 17,000 acres
of the reservation promised in the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua.
The tribe has asked the Bureau of Indian Affairs to take the
land into trust following a March 2003 Supreme Court decision
that cited the "disruptive" nature of tribal claims.
The court endorsed the land-into-trust process as a method for
the Oneidas to reclaim sovereignty on ancestral territory.
Court Decision:
Oneida Nation v. New York (May 21, 2007)
Draft Environmental Impact Statement:
Oneida
Nation of New York Conveyance of Lands Into Trust (November 2006)
Relevant Links:
Oneida Nation Trust -
http://www.oneidanationtrust.comIndian
Nation Fee-to-Trust Land Acquisition Applications in New York State -
http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/ogc/lands.html
Oneida Nation, New York -
http://www.oneida-nation.net
Sherrill v. Oneida Nation Decision:
Syllabus
|
Opinion
[Ginsburg] |
Concurrence
[Souter] |
Dissent
[Stevens]
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