Tribe Loses Battle To Block Partition Of Reservation Land

The Quinault Indian Nation on Thursday lost a third legal battle to block a timber company’s attempt to partition 80 acres on the tribal reservation north of Hoquiam.

The state Supreme Court, in a unanimous opinion written by Justice Charles Z. Smith, rejected the tribe’s assertion that Grays Harbor Superior Court does not have proper authority to decide such matters.

In a case that has been brewing for nearly five years, Superior Court Judge Gordon Godfrey sided with Anderson and Middleton Lumber Co. in 1992. The tribe later appealed to both the Court of Appeals and the state Supreme Court, but both upheld the Grays Harbor bench.

The company owns most of the land in question. One-sixth of the land originally was owned by 10 heirs of Elliot Peterson, but after A&M moved to partition the entire parcel and gain “quiet title,” the 10 individuals deeded the land over to the tribe.

As sovereign nations, tribes generally are immune from lawsuits. But the county court took jurisdiction under the provisions of the Indian General Allotment Act of 1887. That federal law, written when the government was moving away from reservations and allowing individual tribal members to own parcels, allows land transactions to be treated just as they would be off-reservation.

Reacquisition of part of the land by the tribe does not remove the courts’ jurisdiction, Justice Smith wrote. He also rejected the tribe’s contention that the federal government should have been part of the lawsuit.