What we learned from the Federal Circuit's opinion in Shinnecock Indian Nation v. United States, No.14-5015 (Apr. 7, 2015):
- A $1,105,000,000 (that's $1.1 billion and change) is the Nation's claim in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims for what the Hamptons are worth. Slip op. at 3. Sounds about right.
- The Nation sued the State of New York in U.S. District Court, alleging that in the mid-19th Century, the State "enacted legislation allowing thousands of acres of the Nation's land to be wrongfully conveyed to the government of the Town of Southampton." Slip op. at 2.
- USDC: case dismissed (laches, you know). Appeal to the Second Circuit remains pending.
- Off to the CFC they went, seeking the abovementioned $1.1 billion, claiming the federal government violated its trust obligations when it failed to provide the Nation with a remedy for the misappropriation of its land (at New York's hands). The government sought dismissal, arguing the case was not ripe.
- In addition to arguing the case was ripe, the Nation also asked to amend its complaint to add a new claim which asserted the District Court's dismissal of its claim on laches grounds was a "judicial taking." The CFC disagreed on both counts. Case dismissed.
- Federal Circuit: the CFC case is not ripe because the Second Circuit appeal has not been resolved, and the Supreme Court avenue has not been exhausted. Pursuing these avenues are not futile (even though every time the Nation has asked the Second Circuit for similar relief, it has held that the laches doctrine is applicable to Indian land claims), because hey, the Second Circuit might grant en banc review to revisit the issue this time, or SCOTUS could grant cert. Slip op. at 7. Any bets on the likelihood of either of those happening?
- Moreover, Williamson County: it applies (or at least part of its rationale does). There's a chance the Second Circuit could reverse the District Court and rule in favor of the Nation. Or the parties may settle the case. Indeed, there are many possibilities. But until the Second Circuit case is finally over, it's just too early to seek money from the CFC. In other words, the federal courts are like the administrative agency process in Williamson County: the taking cannot be evaluated until the Second Circuit has made a decision, and thus reached a final, definitive position about what uses may be allowed, and until then, there's no way to tell if anything has been taken. (Reading that last sentence back now makes us see how trying to evaluate this case under the Williamson County standard for a regulatory taking is simply ridiculous.)
- Finally, no leave to amend to add the judicial takings claim, because it's a loosely-disguised collateral attack on the District Court's judgment. Slip op. at 14 ("Permitting parties aggrieved by the decisions of Article III tribunals to challenge the merits of those decisions in the Court of Federal Claims would circumvent the statutorily defined appellate process and severely undercut the orderly resolution of claims.").
- The court didn't say this was a dismissal for lack of jurisdiction, but implied so by holding that "[t]he Court of Federal Claims is without authority to adjudicate the Nation's claim that it suffered a compensable taking at the hands of the district court." Slip op. at 13 (emphasis added).
- OK, we get the whole "collateral attack" thing (we've read Rooker and Feldman), but that begs the question of where a plaintiff could bring a judicial takings claim against the federal government asserting that a District Court did the taking, given that the CFC has exclusive jurisdiction over takings claims against the federal government which exceed $10,000. Nowhere, we guess.
Shinnecock Indian Nation v. United States, No. 14-5015 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 7, 2015)
