United States v. Oregon

In this case we determine whether the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation (Colville) is foreclosed by res judicata from asserting the claim of its Wenatchi Constituent Tribe (Wenatchi) to fishing rights at the Wenatshapam Fishery on Icicle Creek, a tributary to the Columbia River. The Yakama 1 Nation sought and obtained an injunction preventing the members of the Wenatchi Tribe from fishing at that location. 2 In granting the injunction, the district court found that Col-ville’s earlier failed effort to intervene in litigation over off-reservation fishing rights in the area served to bar Colville from asserting the alleged rights as a defense to the injunction. See United States v. Oregon, 787 F.Supp. 1557 , 1572 (D.Or.1992). We hold that the requisite identity of claims between the earlier intervention attempt and the present injunction hearing does not exist and, consequently, res judi-cata does not apply. We therefore reverse and remand to the district court for a hearing on the merits.

*811 I. Background

In 1855, the United States entered into two treaties with a group of Indian tribes, the Yakama Treaty of June 9, 1855, and the Nez Perce Treaty of June…