Upper Skagit Tribe v. Lundgren

The Upper Skagit Tribe (defendant) ceded tribal lands to the United States in 1855 pursuant to the Treaty of Point Elliott. In 1981, the United States established a small reservation for the tribe located on land previously ceded to the United States under the treaty. More recently, the tribe had attempted to purchase formerly-tribal lands in private market transactions. In 2013, the tribe purchased 40 acres of land bordered by the tribe’s reservation and by land owned by Sharline and Ray Lundgren (plaintiffs). The tribe commissioned a land survey, which discovered that the boundary fence between the 40-acre plot and the Lundgrens’ land was misplaced and that approximately one acre of the tribe’s newly purchased land was on the Lundgrens’ side of the fence. The tribe informed the Lundgrens that it planned to move the fence to the correct boundary-line location. In response, the Lundgrens filed an in rem quiet-title action in Washington state court. The tribe moved to dismiss, arguing that the Lundgrens’ action was barred by tribal sovereign immunity. The action ultimately reached the Washington Supreme Court. Citing the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in County of Yakima v. Confederated Tribes and Bands of Yakima Nation as controlling precedent, the Washington Supreme Court held that the tribal sovereign immunity did not apply to in rem actions. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari. During the United States Supreme Court proceedings, the Lundgrens raised a new argument in favor of preventing the tribe from invoking sovereign immunity, namely that, under common law, tribal sovereign immunity did not apply to actions involving immovable property located in the territory of the United States.