Client:

Tejon Ranch Company, The owner of the largest contiguous parcel of private land in California.

Issue:  

A group of Native Americans and David Laughing Horse Robinson claim to be the Kawaiisu Tribe, which is not a federally recognized Indian tribe. They challenged Tejon Ranch’s title to 270,000 acres of land, alleging unlawful possession, trespass and violations of the Indian Non-Intercourse Act and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

Perkins Coie successfully moved to dismiss the Kawaiisu’s complaint three times in federal district court before Kawaiisu appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Ninth Circuit, where the Ninth Circuit dismissed the case for non-prosecution. Months later, however, the court withdrew its mandate and reinstated the appeal at the request of Kawaiisu’s counsel.

Solution:

In our argument to the Ninth Circuit, we demonstrated that current ownership of the ranch is traceable to four patents issued by the United States to holders of Mexican land grants, pursuant to the California Land Claims Act of 1851. The Act implemented the United States’ commitment under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848 to honor Mexican land grants in the territory that the United States acquired after the Mexican War. It required all persons claiming title to land in California to present their claims before the Land Claims Commission within two years of the Act’s passage.  

The three-judge Ninth Circuit panel affirmed, in a published opinion, the district court’s decision that the Kawaiisu had failed to comply with the Land Claims Act and that any title they may have had was therefore extinguished. The Ninth Circuit also agreed with the district court that various other federal Indian treaties and statutes did not convey to the Kawaiisu any interests in ranch land, establish a reservation anywhere within ranch boundaries, or otherwise confirm aboriginal rights to the area.

Additionally, The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s rejection of claims arising under the California Environmental Quality Act (against Kern County, California) and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act related to the ranch’s plans to develop housing on the ranch.

As reported in Law360, “Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Sidney R. Thomas said the Eastern District of California had correctly ruled that the tribe’s claims, which had centered around a number of 19th century acts and treaties, did not hold up.”  With its title finally clear, the Tejon Ranch Company can now go forward with its development plans.