Crow Creek Sioux Tribe v. United States
Opinion
The Crow Creek Sioux Tribe ("Tribe") is a federally recognized Indian tribe. Its reservation is located in South Dakota along the Missouri River. The Tribe filed suit against the United States in the Court of Federal Claims ("Claims Court") seeking damages and declaratory and injunctive relief for the alleged taking of its water rights in violation of the Fifth Amendment, and for the alleged mismanagement of its water rights in violation of 25 U.S.C. § 162a(d)(8). The Claims Court dismissed the case for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. We affirm, concluding that the Tribe has failed to establish, or even allege, that it has suffered the requisite injury in fact.
BACKGROUND
The Crow Creek Indian Reservation ("Reservation") was established in central South Dakota in 1863. The Missouri River overlies the Reservation's western boundary.
See
Act of Mar. 2, 1889, ch. 405, § 6,
Under the Supreme Court's decision in
Winters v. United States
,
In June 2016, the Tribe filed suit in the Claims Court seeking at least $200 million in damages. The complaint began by describing various "Background Facts," including the establishment of the Reservation and the history of the Pick-Sloan Plan, a federal flood control project on the Missouri River, which involved the construction of the Fort Randall Dam and the Big Bend Dam in the mid-1900s.
1
The complaint also mentioned a 1996 statute that established a new trust fund for the Tribe, funded with up to $27.5 million in hydroelectric-power revenue from the Pick-Sloan Plan,
see
Crow Creek Sioux Tribe Infrastructure and Development Trust Fund Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-223, § 2(a)(7),
The complaint then alleged that certain, unspecified acts and omissions by the United States-presumably including the continued operation of the dams-have taken the Tribe's " Winters reserved water rights" without just compensation in violation of the Fifth Amendment. J.A. 32. The complaint also alleged that the government breached its fiduciary duty to "[a]ppropriately manag[e] the natural resources located within the boundaries of Indian reservations," 25 U.S.C. § 162a(d)(8), "by the acts and omissions described hereinabove, including failing to protect, quantify, assert or record Plaintiff's water rights, and instead continuously diverting, retaining, and appropriating that water to others and to Defendant's own use," J.A. 31. The complaint did not allege that the government's actions deprived the Tribe of sufficient water to fulfill the reservation's purposes or that those actions would cause the Tribe to lack sufficient water in the future.
The United States filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1) of the Court of Federal Claims for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. The Claims Court granted the motion, noting that
Winters
only entitles the Tribe to sufficient water to fulfill the Reservation's purposes and explaining that nothing in the complaint suggests that the Tribe is "experienc[ing] a shortage of water" or that its water supply from the Missouri River is or will be "insufficient for [the Tribe's] intended pursuits."
Crow Creek Sioux Tribe v. United States
,
The tribe timely appealed. We have jurisdiction under
DISCUSSION
The Tribe initially argues that the Claims Court erred in dismissing its action because the Tribe could not calculate damages. We agree with the Tribe that there is no need to allege details of the damages calculation in the complaint. But the Claims Court's decision, while it sometimes uses the word "damages," turns on the Tribe's underlying failure to allege an injury in fact. Indeed, the Claims Court concludes its opinion by stating that "[t]he jurisdictional problem ... arises from plaintiff's inability to identify an injury to the Tribe."
Crow Creek Sioux Tribe
,
In order to bring suit in an Article III court, a plaintiff must establish constitutional standing.
Lujan v. Defs. of Wildlife
,
The Supreme Court has held that each element of standing "must be supported in the same way as any other matter on which the plaintiff bears the burden of proof."
Lujan
,
The question here is whether the Tribe has sufficiently alleged injury in fact, which the Supreme Court has characterized as "a hard floor of Article III jurisdiction."
Summers v. Earth Island Inst.
,
The Tribe argues that various government actions and inactions with respect to the Missouri River, including the operation of the Pick-Sloan dams, constitute a taking of the Tribe's Winters water rights under the Fifth Amendment and a breach of the government's fiduciary duty under 25 U.S.C. § 162a(d)(8) to "appropriately manage[ ]" the Tribe's vested, Winters water rights, and there-by amount to an injury-in-fact. The Fifth Amendment's Takings Clause requires just compensation for the taking of property. Section 162a generally concerns the Secretary of the Interior's responsibility for management of Indian trust funds and expenditure of money collected from irrigation projects, but it also states that "[t]he Secretary's proper discharge of the trust responsibilities of the United States shall include ... [a]ppropriately managing the natural resources located within the boundaries of Indian reservations." 25 U.S.C. § 162a(d)(8). The Tribe's breach of trust claim is based on the view that its Winters water rights count as "natural resources" under § 162a(d)(8), and the government has a statutory duty to "appropriately manage" those Winters water rights.
While it is clear that the tribe possesses Winters rights, it is not clear whether those rights are protected by § 162a(d)(8). Because § 162a(d)(8) does not define "appropriate management" of natural resources and does not assign the Secretary any standards or specific obligations as to natural resources, the government argues that § 162a(d)(8) is not the kind of "specific rights-creating or duty-imposing statutory or regulatory prescription[ ]" required to support jurisdiction under the Indian Tucker Act.
*1356
United States v. Navajo Nation
,
The problem is that the complaint fails to allege that the government action has caused injury to the Tribe's
Winters
rights. As discussed above, the Supreme Court held in
Winters
that the establishment of an Indian reservation impliedly reserves the amount of water necessary to fulfill the purposes of the reservation.
The scope of
Winters
reserved water rights, like their existence, turns on the reservation's need for water. The amount of water reserved is "that amount of water necessary to fulfill the purpose of the reservation, no more."
Cappaert
,
Thus, water is only reserved for the Tribe under
Winters
"to the extent needed to accomplish the purpose of the reservation."
Gila River Pima-Maricopa Indian Cmty. v. United States
,
*1357 The Tribe argues that, because its Winters rights vested at the founding of the Reservation, any subsequent action affecting the waters of the Missouri River constitutes an injury of those rights, even if the action does not affect the Tribe's ability to draw sufficient water to fulfill the purposes of the Reservation. In the Tribe's view, "[w]hen the Government took and used the Tribe's water and water rights-whether the Tribe was using that water at the time or not, and despite the natural flow continuing along the river's banks-it breached its duty under 162a(d)(8) to appropriately manage the water, and alternatively, violated the Takings Clause by taking a fully vested property interest from the Tribe." Appellant Br. 34.
In so arguing, the Tribe appears to misunderstand what its water rights entail. As noted above,
Winters
, the sole source of the water rights asserted in this case, only entitles tribes to "that amount of water necessary to fulfill the purpose of the reservation, no more."
Cappaert
,
CONCLUSION
Because the Tribe failed to allege an injury in fact, we affirm the Claims Court's dismissal for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.
AFFIRMED
COSTS
No costs.
Construction of the dams resulted in the flooding of approximately 15,000 acres of the Reservation. To compensate the Tribe for this loss of land, Congress enacted two statutes by which the United States acquired the flooded land and paid the Tribe and its members more than $5 million total "in settlement of all claims, rights, and demands of" the Tribe "arising out of" dam construction. Act of Oct. 3, 1962, Pub. L. No. 87-735, § 1(a)(2),
See, e.g.
Garling v. EPA
,
Reference
- Full Case Name
- CROW CREEK SIOUX TRIBE, Plaintiff-Appellant v. UNITED STATES, Defendant-Appellee
- Cited By
- 28 cases
- Status
- Published