District Court, D. Montana — appointed by George H.W. Bush
In Re Haines
District Court, D. Montana · 2000-01-26 · cited 1×
This case concerned whether the Crow Tribe could impose a 4% resort tax on the gross receipts of a non-Indian owned restaurant and motel operating on nonmember fee land inside the reservation boundaries. The debtor, Pauline Haines, challenged the Tribe's proofs of claim in bankruptcy court for nearly $99,000 in unpaid taxes, interest, and penalties. The bankruptcy court denied the claims, and the district court affirmed on appeal. The court held that under Montana v. United States, Indian tribes generally lack inherent sovereign authority to tax nonmembers' activities on nonmember fee land, and neither of the two exceptions (consensual commercial relationships with the tribe or direct effects on the tribe's political integrity, economic security, or health and welfare) applied, as the business primarily served nonmembers with no significant tribal involvement and no authorizing treaty provision existed.
taxesfederal powerbusiness & regulatory
Weaver v. Delta Airlines, Inc.
District Court, D. Montana · 1999-06-30 · cited 8×
In Weaver v. Delta Airlines, Inc., a passenger sued the airline under the Warsaw Convention for injuries from an emergency landing on a 1996 international flight, claiming she developed post-traumatic stress disorder with accompanying physical brain changes. Delta moved for summary judgment, arguing that the Convention permits recovery only for bodily injuries with a distinctly physical scope and that purely mental or emotional harm is not compensable under Eastern Airlines v. Floyd. Weaver cross-moved, presenting medical evidence that extreme stress caused verifiable physical alterations to her brain. The court denied Delta's motion and granted Weaver partial summary judgment on liability, holding that her medically diagnosed brain injury qualified as a compensable bodily injury under Article 17, even though its symptoms overlapped with non-compensable psychic harm.
torts & liability
Allison v. United States
District Court, D. Montana · 1999-04-16 · cited 1×
The Allisons appealed a bankruptcy court order dismissing their challenge to IRS tax collection actions, including liens on Ronald Allison's pension payments following a Chapter 7 discharge. They argued the IRS lacked authority to tax them and that pre-petition liens could not attach to post-petition pension benefits. The district court reviewed the bankruptcy court's legal conclusions de novo and factual findings for clear error, concluding that the pension remained subject to attachment under 26 U.S.C. § 6321 and that the bankruptcy court correctly granted summary judgment to the United States and dismissed the claim against the Boilermaker-Blacksmith National Pension Trust under 26 U.S.C. § 6332(e). The court also granted the Trust's motion for sanctions, finding the Allisons' suit against it frivolous and unsupported by any nonfrivolous legal argument.
taxesfederal power
BIG HORN COUNTY ELEC. CO-OP., INC. v. Adams
District Court, D. Montana · 1999-04-02
The case concerned whether the Crow Tribe could impose a 3% ad valorem utility tax on Big Horn County Electric Cooperative's property located on rights-of-way across tribal and trust lands within the reservation, enforce an anti-pass-through regulation prohibiting the utility from billing the tax separately to customers, and exercise regulatory authority through a tribal public utilities commission. The district court granted summary judgment in part to the cooperative, holding that the tribe lacked authority to tax utility property on nonmember fee lands or equivalent rights-of-way granted under federal law, and permanently enjoined collection of the tax on such property while ordering a refund of taxes paid. The court declined to address the validity of the anti-pass-through provision because the underlying tax was invalid, and dismissed the challenge to the tribal PUC as unripe since no regulations had been enacted or applied. The core reasoning rested on distinguishing the nature of the rights-of-way from trust lands and applying limits on tribal taxing power over nonmembers' property interests.
taxesfederal powerbusiness & regulatory
Montana v. United States Environmental Protection Agency
District Court, D. Montana · 1998-11-16
The case involved the State of Montana challenging the EPA's 1996 decision to grant the Sioux and Assiniboine Tribes treatment-as-a-state status under section 518(e) of the Clean Water Act, authorizing the Tribes to establish water quality standards on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, including over non-Indian fee lands. The district court granted the EPA's and the Tribes' motions for summary judgment and dismissed Montana's declaratory judgment action. It reasoned that the EPA's case-specific determination, which presumed tribal authority based on generalized findings of serious and substantial potential impacts on tribal health and welfare plus evidence of checkerboard land ownership and pollution risks, was consistent with the standards upheld in the related Flathead TAS precedent and was neither arbitrary nor capricious under the APA.
environmentfederal power
Austin's Express, Inc. v. Arneson
District Court, D. Montana · 1998-03-12 · cited 5×
This case involved a fatal truck accident on Interstate 90 within the Crow Indian Reservation, where a Crow Tribe member was struck and killed by a nonmember driver employed by an Idaho trucking company. The victim's estate filed a tort suit in Crow Tribal Court, prompting the defendants to seek a federal court declaration that the tribal court lacked jurisdiction over them and the dispute. Relying on precedents like Strate v. A-1 Contractors and Montana v. United States, the federal district court held that the highway right-of-way is equivalent to non-Indian fee land for jurisdictional purposes. The court ruled that no federal statute or treaty authorized tribal governance over nonmembers on the right-of-way and that neither of Montana's exceptions for consensual relationships or threats to tribal integrity applied. It therefore granted summary judgment to the plaintiffs, denied the tribal judge's motion, and permanently enjoined further tribal court proceedings against the defendants.
civil rightsfederal powertorts & liability