Pacino

I. INTRODUCTION

16 Plaintiff Frank Pacino owns a partial interest in an allotment of land on the Round Valley 17 Indian Tribe’s Covelo reservation. The land cannot be leased without approval of both a majority 18 of its owners and the Secretary of the Interior. See 25 U.S.C. § 2218; 25 C.F.R. § 162.012. No 19 lease of the Allotment has been recorded pursuant to this process. In 2017, Pacino discovered 20 Defendants, the Olivers, had taken up residence on the allotment, installing a fence and a locked 21 gate. He asked the tribal police to evict them, but was told the police had been directed not to do 22 so. He contacted the Bureau of Indian Affairs, who sent a cease and desist letter. The tribal council 23 then passed a resolution purporting to approve a life tenure on the allotment for Cathy Oliver. 24 Pacino brought an ejectment action in Tribal Court, but the court dismissed the complaint because 25 it lacked subject matter jurisdiction. In the course of that action, however, the Olivers asserted a 26 right to be on the land, establishing federal court jurisdiction under the General Allotment Act 27 (although there are other jurisdictional issues, as discussed below). Rather…