David Robinson v. Sally Jewell

In this appeal, the Kawaiisu, a non-federally recognized Native American group indigenous to the Tehachapi Mountains and tie Southern Sierra Nevada (“the Tribe” or “the Kawaiisu”), and its elected chairperson, David Laughing Horse Robinson, appeal the dismissal of their claims asserting title to the Tejón Ranch, one of the largest continuous expanses of private land in California. We review de novo a district court’s order granting a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), Manzarek v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins., Co., 519 F.3d 1025, 1080 (9th Cir.2008), and we affirm the judgment of the district court.

I

As with most land disputes of this type, historical perspective is important in resolving the claims. During first the Spanish and then the Mexican occupations of what is now California, those governments encouraged settlement by issuing large land grants in the territory. At the conclusion of the Mexican-Ameriean War in 1848, the United States acquired California from Mexico through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The treaty promised to honor Spanish and Mexican land grants. Treaty of Peace, Friendship,…