`
`UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
`WESTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN
`NORTHERN DIVISION
`_____________________
`
`Case No. 2:73-CV-26
`
`Hon. Richard Alan Enslen
`
`UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
`
` Plaintiff,
`
`and
`
`BAY MILLS INDIAN COMMUNITY,
`SAULT STE. MARIE TRIBE
`OF CHIPPEWA INDIANS,
`GRAND TRAVERSE BAND OF
`OTTAWA AND CHIPPEWA
`INDIANS, LITTLE RIVER BAND
`OF OTTAWA INDIANS, and
`LITTLE TRAVERSE BAY BAND
`OF ODAWA INDIANS,
`
` Plaintiff-Intervenors/Counter-Defendants,
`
`v.
`
`STATE OF MICHIGAN, et al.,
`
`ORDER
`
` Defendants/Counter-Claimants.
`___________________________________/
`
`Plaintiff-Intervenor/Counter-Defendant Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians
`
`(“GTB”) has moved this Court to impose sanctions under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(c)
`
`against Proposed Intervenors Michigan Fisheries Resource Conversation Coalition, Stuart Cheney,
`
`Robert Andrus and the Walloon Lake Trust Conservancy (“Proposed Intervenors”). The bases for the
`
`request are supposedly frivolous factual contentions made by Proposed Intervenors in recent motion
`
`filings (which motions have been denied). The factual contentions appear to have been based on some
`
`record statements of Plaintiffs’ experts and as well as Proposed Intervenors’ expansive approach to
`
`understanding how the recognition of tribal usufructuary rights might impact their legal interests in
`
`
`
`Case 2:73-cv-00026-PLM Doc #1711 Filed 01/12/06 Page 2 of 2 Page ID#1136
`
`private lands. While the Court has disagreed with some of those characterizations, the Court does not
`
`believe that Rule 11 sanctions are warranted given the complexity of the legal and factual matters at
`
`issue. 1
`
`THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Plaintiff-Intervenor/Counter-Defendant
`
`Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians’ Motion for Sanctions (Dkt. No. 1702) is
`
`DENIED.
`
`DATED in Kalamazoo, MI:
`January 12, 2006
`
` /s/ Richard Alan Enslen
`RICHARD ALAN ENSLEN
`SENIOR UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
`
`While the Court disagrees with much of the Proposed-Intervenors’ legal tactics and
`1
`positions, it does not agree with GTB’s implied characterization in the Motion for Sanctions,
`which compared the Proposed Intervenors to Adolph Hitler and Joseph Goebbels (for promoting
`“the big lie”). Such rhetoric is not appropriate in the context of a complex litigation seeking to
`determine reasonably disputed treaty and property rights and does not otherwise facilitate the
`resolution of disputes in this matter.
`
`2
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