Santa Clara Pueblo owns and operates the Santa Claran Hotel in Espanola, New Mexico. Photo from Santa Clara Pueblo
The Obama administration filed suit last week against a city in New Mexico for allegedly trespassing on the reservation of Santa Clara Pueblo. The tribe and the city of Espanola signed two rights-of-way in 1984. According to The Rio Grande, the tribe only received $31,784 out of the deal. Three decades later, the city is still using the tribe's lands for water and sewer lines. But the tribe hasn't received additional payments even though one right-of-way expired in 1994 and the other in 2002. The lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice on Friday doesn't say how much the tribe should be paid for the city's alleged trespass. But at one point, the tribe asked for $1 million, The Sun reported last year. "If a negotiated resolution is not possible, the United States seeks all just and appropriate remedies, including, but not limited to, a declaration that the city is in trespass; damages or mesne profits in compensation for the past unlawful use and occupancy," the complaint reads. The city's official position is that it doesn't have to pay to continue using the land. But attorney Frank Coppler said he welcomed the lawsuit because it would lead to resolution of the long-running dispute. "So far, it has been a negotiation, which means that either party can take whatever position they want and not justify it,” Coppler told the paper. “But in the federal court system, we will have the opportunity to mediate as opposed to negotiate and the federal magistrates are expert at mediating these kinds of issues.” Get the Story:
Pueblo Accuses City of Trespassing (The Rio Grande Sun 5/12)
USA Steps In for Santa Clara Pueblo (Courthouse News Service 5/9)
Feds: City of Española trespassing on Santa Clara Pueblo (The Albuquerque Journal 5/7)
Feds allege Española violating right-of-way deal in suit (The Santa Fe New Mexican 5/7) An Opinion:
Robert Trapp: Suing Ourselves (The Rio Grande Sun 5/12)
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of Justice accuses city of trespassing on Pueblo lands (5/6) Santa Clara Pueblo seeks payments for use of land for utility lines (10/2)
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