Fight Over Tribal Status Moved

A U.S. District Court judge in Riverside on Monday denied a request to prevent the ejection of 130 members of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians who stand to lose their tribal identity and $10,000 a month in stipends from the tribe’s casino revenues.

In a seven-page ruling, Judge Robert J. Timlin said the request for a temporary restraining order against the members of the Pechanga Band’s enrollment committee was beyond federal court jurisdiction.

Timlin remanded the case to Riverside County Superior Court, where the plaintiffs plan to file today for another restraining order to block the enrollment committee from striking them from the membership rolls.

“This is a very scary time for us,” said Jon Velie, the Oklahoma attorney representing the plaintiffs, who comprise roughly 13% of the 990-member Pechanga Band, one of the wealthiest tribes in the state.

“If something happens before a TRO can be obtained in Superior Court,” he said, “my clients could lose their homes, healthcare benefits, jobs, per capita payments of $10,000 a month and their tribal identity.”

Tribal attorney Alex R. Baghdassarian and Pechanga Band leaders declined to comment on the matter. But Carole Goldberg, director of UCLA’s joint degree program in law and American Indian studies, said the case was an internal matter that should be resolved by the tribe.

Tribes -- as sovereign nations -- are shielded from lawsuits filed against them. Velie, however, contends that individuals are not protected by sovereign immunity when they act outside the authority granted to them by the tribe.

The plaintiffs allege that the committee members violated Pechanga Band law and imposed standards above those required by the Pechanga Constitution by launching disenrollment proceedings against them. The lawsuit also accuses the committee members of trying to increase their own portions of casino profits by diminishing the number of tribal members eligible for profit-sharing payments.

The plaintiffs trace their family line back to Manuel Miranda, granddaughter of Pablo Apish, the Pechanga headman who received a 2,223-acre land grant from California Gov. Pio Pico in 1845.

The committee members maintain that Miranda, who was half Pechanga according to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, moved off the reservation and cut her ties to the tribe 80 years ago. As a result, they are now demanding additional documentation of linear descent from the disputed members, most of whom have enjoyed full membership rights for 25 years.

The plaintiffs originally took their case to Superior Court on Jan. 15. Less than a week later, however, the defendants had the case transferred to federal court. Then they argued that federal court had no jurisdiction to grant a temporary restraining order. On Monday, Timlin agreed.

In an interview, plaintiff John Gomez, who was fired last Thursday from his job as an analyst in the tribe’s legal offices, described Timlin’s ruling as “a mixed blessing.”

“Of course it would have been nice to get the TRO we had asked for,” he said. “But sending the case back to Superior Court, where we originally filed, is a confirmation that it was the proper place to be after all.”

“We’re going to file in Superior Court just as soon as possible,” Velie added.