Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement & Power District v. Lee

MEMORANDUM

Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District and Headwaters Resources, Inc., collectively referred to as Salt River Project, appeal the district court’s grant of a Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b) motion to dismiss for failure to exhaust the contractual grievance procedures in a lease between Salt River Project and the Navajo Nation. We review the district court’s application of substantive law de novo, and its findings of fact for clear error. Ritza v. Int’l Longshoremen’s & Warehousemen’s Union, 837 F.2d 365, 369 (9th Cir.1988) (per curiam). We reverse.

The district court erred in ordering Salt River Project to refer its claims to the United States Secretary of the Interior pursuant to the grievance procedures in § 25 of the 1969 Lease. Assuming, without deciding, that those procedures apply to Salt River Project’s claims, Salt River Project has already submitted its dispute to the Secretary of the Interior under both § 25 of the 1969 Lease and § 10 of the § 323 Grant. The Secretary, without regard to the pending litigation, reviewed the substance of the dispute and addressed Salt River Project’s request for intervention by the Secretary. Letter from Carl J.…