Albert Pinkham, Sr. Cyrus Wilkinson Connie Allen Moore Francis Allen v. Lewiston Orchards Irrigation District, and United States of America

Albert Pinkham and other Indian plaintiffs appeal the district court’s dismissal of their action against Lewiston Orchards Irrigation District for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1353. We affirm.

PACTS

Plaintiffs are enrolled members of the Nez Perce Tribe of Indians and beneficial owners of an undivided share of allotted land held in trust by the United States on the Nez Perce Indian Reservation of Idaho. According to their second amended complaint, plaintiffs brought an action for damages caused by the flooding of water onto plaintiffs’ allotted land in April 1959, and again around April 24,1984. These alleged floods occurred because a canal carrying water across plaintiffs’ allotted land broke. The canal is owned by the United States, and used and maintained by Lewiston Orchards Irrigation District (LOID). Plaintiffs alleged that defendants “have been grossly negligent in the construction and maintenance of the [LOID] canal bisecting Plaintiffs’ land, in a manner amounting to outrageous conduct.” The complaint added that “there has been a trespass upon Plaintiffs’ land which has effectively acted as a taking of said land without just…