Cultee v. United States

713 F.2d 1455 Susan Lee CULTEE, Deborah Cultee, Karnes Beatty Cultee, and Brenda Lee Cultee, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. UNITED STATES of America, James G. Watt, Secretary of the Interior, Interior Board of Indian Appeals, and Helene Jake, Defendants-Appellees. No. 82-3632. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted June 9, 1983. Decided Aug. 26, 1983. Samuel J. Stiltner, Ziontz, Pirtle, Morisset, Ernstoff & Chestnut, Seattle, Wash., for plaintiffs-appellants. Mary Ann Vance, Seattle, Wash., J. Carol Williams, Washington, D.C., for defendants-appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. Before KILKENNY and FLETCHER, Circuit Judges, and TAYLOR, * District Judge. FLETCHER, Circuit Judge: 1 The children of William Mason Cultee, a member of the Quinault Indian Nation, seek reversal of the district court's judgment that Cultee's will, which omitted any mention of his children, is valid under the federal statutes that control testamentary disposition of restricted Indian lands. See 25 U.S.C. §§ 373 , 464 (1976). Appellees are the United States and Helene Jake, Cultee's cousin and an enrolled member…