Court Orders Delay in Tribe Ousters

A Riverside County Superior Court judge on Wednesday temporarily barred Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indian administrators from ousting 130 members who receive a total of $10.5 million annually from the tribe’s casino revenue.

The plaintiffs, who compose roughly 10% of the Temecula band, say individuals on the tribe’s enrollment committee are illegally trying to increase their wealth by reducing the total number of tribal members eligible for shares of casino profits.

Agreeing that the disputed tribal members faced imminent ejection, Judge Charles D. Field granted a 10-day restraining order against the enrollment committee “for the limited purpose of making a determination as to whether this court has jurisdiction.”

Tribal attorneys insist it does not. They maintain that the case involves an internal feud that is shielded by sovereign immunity from legal challenges in state or federal court.

Pechanga Band Chairman Mark Macarro declined to comment except to say, “These matters are internal processes that are the sole province of the tribe.”

Plaintiffs’ attorneys Brian Unitt and Jon Velie argued that California is one of six states granted jurisdiction under a 51-year-old law to hear disputes between Indians that arise in Indian country. Without state court jurisdiction afforded by that law, Native Americans would have no place to seek justice in such civil cases, they said.

Outside the courtroom, plaintiff John Gomez Sr. said, “We are in court right now because it was never intended that tribal sovereignty protect criminals from being held accountable for their actions.”

Field’s action provided a measure of relief to plaintiffs who stand to lose tribal jobs, health and senior benefits, cultural identities and $10,000 a month in per capita payments.

They claim a lineage -- chronicled in tribal records -- that is traced back 80 years to Manuela Miranda, granddaughter of Pechanga Band Chief Pablo Apish.

According to the Pechanga Band Constitution, full membership requires proof of lineal descent from an original Pechanga member, and a family line contained in the “official enrollment book of 1979.”

So it came as a surprise when members of the enrollment committee called in late 2002 for additional documentation of lineage from members of the Manuela Miranda family on the grounds that their ancestral matriarch had moved off the reservation 80 years ago and allegedly cut her ties with the tribe.

“It makes me very angry,” said plaintiff Frances Villalobos, 51. “It’s unfair of them to do this to us.”

In a lawsuit filed in Superior Court on Jan. 15, the plaintiffs accused enrollment committee members of violating Pechanga law by arbitrarily demanding that they meet stricter membership standards than required by the tribe’s constitution. Defendants had the complaint moved to federal court.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Robert J. Timlin determined that he had no jurisdiction in the matter and remanded the case to the state court.

In his remarks to attorneys Wednesday, Field said he needed more time to familiarize himself with the issues. He scheduled another hearing for Feb. 17.

Holding up 488 pages of documents filed by plaintiffs, Field said, “This is what was handed to me yesterday afternoon. Everyone, I’m sure, expects a learned interpretation.”

“But this is the kind of case in which I’ll need assistance from our legal research department,” he said. “And I’ll need some amount of time.”