Juan Segundo v. City of Rancho Mirage, a Municipal Corporation, Jean Chormicle Kapp v. City of Cathedral City, California

Appellants, members of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians and their non-Indian lessee, appeal an adverse judgment by the District Court upholding rent control ordinances enacted by the Appellee cities of Rancho Mirage and Cathedral City and applied to allotted lands of the Indian Appellants. The central issue on appeal is whether local rent control ordinances may be applied to a mobile home park operated by a non-Indian entity on Indian land held in trust by the United States.

FACTS

Appellants are Indian allottees of several parcels of land located within the Agua Caliente Reservation, situated near Palm Springs, California. In 1968, with approval of the Secretary of the Interior, Appellants entered into a 65-year lease with Palm Springs Mobile Country Club for the construction and operation of a mobile home park on the allotments. Now known as De Anza Palm Springs Mobile Country Club, the park lies partially within the limits of Rancho Mirage and partially within the limits of Cathedral City.

Under the lease, De Anza pays Appellant allottees a guaranteed minimum annual rental plus 15% of the gross receipts from the subleasing of mobile home spaces plus a percentage of…