Exc Inc. v. Jamien Jensen

MEMORANDUM

Appellants, members of the Jensen/Johnson family, appeal the district court’s holding that the Navajo Nation tribal courts may not exercise adjudicatory jurisdiction over a highway accident that occurred on a stretch of U.S. Highway 160 — an Arizona state highway — within the exterior boundaries of the Navajo Reservation. We review determinations of tribal court jurisdiction de novo, and we review factual findings for clear error. Water Wheel Camp Recreational Area, Inc. v. LaRance, 642 F.3d 802, 808 (9th Cir.2011).

Appellants conceded at oral argument that the Navajo Nation has not retained the right to exclude nonmembers on U.S. Highway 160. Consequently, the highway is the equivalent of non-Indian fee land for jurisdictional purposes, and this case is governed by Strate v. A-1 Contractors, 520 U.S. 438 , 117 S.Ct. 1404 , 137 L.Ed.2d 661 (1997). See Strate, 520 U.S. at 455-56 , 117 S.Ct. 1404 .

Under Strate, tribal jurisdiction is appropriate only if one of the two exceptions articulated in Montana v. United States, 450 U.S. 544 , 101 S.Ct. 1245 , 67 L.Ed.2d 493 (1981), applies. Strate, 520 U.S. at 456 , 117 S.Ct. 1404 . The first Montana exception covers “the…