American Indian Report - May 2008 - (Page 8)

TrIBAL CoUnCIL B r i E f i n g CoUrTS Blackfeet Housing Authority Can Be Sued for Unhealthy Homes By randi hicks rowe THE 9TH CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS, which had held Native American Housing and Self Determination Act that the Blackfeet Nation Housing Authority can be (NAHASDA) was passed and no longer have the “sue sued for unhealthy homes, has invited an appeal, ac- and be sued” clause. When the houses were built, cording to Tim Humphrey of the Stetson Law Offices HUD had the final say about the construction and sigin Albuquerque. nificantly influenced how “Everything is there for the houses were built a trust responsibility case,” because it controlled the Humphrey said. funding, he said. The focus of the HousEven though residents ing Authority attorneys’ of the homes can now arguments in Marceau v. sue the housing authorBlackfeet Housing Authority ity, they will be able to should be aimed at provrecover very little, Huming the liability of the U.S. phrey said. The Court of Department of Housing Appeals holding does and Urban Development not prevent the residents and not whether the tribe Candice LaMott poses in the basement of her home on the Blackfeet Res- filing suit against HUD ervation in Browning, Mont. LaMott is one of a number of low-income has sovereign immunity, Blackfeet tribal members who sued the tribe’s housing authority and the under the Administrative federal government to have their houses replaced. AP Photo/Jennifer Byrd he said. Procedures Act. The Court of Appeals made a 2-1 holding, with Humphrey, who is Blackfeet and has relatives living Judge Harry Pregerson dissenting from the majority. in the homes, noted that the wood basements were Pregerson cited several statutes, including the Native treated with creosote and built in an area with a high American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination water table. This can lead to cancer, he said. Act, which he said created a trust duty for HUD on A University of Montana study found that 75 percent behalf of the tribe and its members. The difference of of the homes tested on the Blackfeet reservation were opinion makes it likely that either another three-judge contaminated by a high level of toxins. Most of the panel or an en banc panel will hear the case again. toxins came from black mold, which can lead to cancer, The housing ordinance the tribe adopted, which asthma, kidney failure, respiratory problems and other ailincluded a “sue and be sued clause,” was “boilerplate” ments. The study found that 71 percent of the residents for what HUD recommended in the mid 1970s, Hum- reported mold-related symptoms and that 37 percent phrey said. Many tribes changed their laws after the of the children were suffering from asthma. n 8 May 2008 American Indian Report http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ http://www.blackfoot.org/ http://www.narf.org/sct/marceauvblackfeet/motion_and_amicus_brief.pdf http://www.narf.org/sct/marceauvblackfeet/motion_and_amicus_brief.pdf http://www.hud.gov/ http://www.hud.gov/ http://www.hud.gov/ http://www.access.gpo.gov/uscode/title5/parti_chapter5_subchapterii_.html http://www.access.gpo.gov/uscode/title5/parti_chapter5_subchapterii_.html http://www.fjc.gov/servlet/tGetInfo?jid=1934 http://www.hud.gov/offices/pih/ih/codetalk/nahasda/ http://www.hud.gov/offices/pih/ih/codetalk/nahasda/ http://www.hud.gov/offices/pih/ih/codetalk/nahasda/ http://www.umt.edu/

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of American Indian Report - May 2008

American Indian Report - May 2008 Contents Courts: Blackfeet Housing Authority Can Be Sued For Unhealthy Homes Congress: Activity on the Hill Ethics & Standards of Conduct: Personal Use of Tribal Property Policy: "Meriless Indian Savages" and the Declaration of Independence Green Technology Grants: New DOJ Program Provides Funding For Rape Crisis Centers Listen & Learn: Multiple Indirect Cost Rates Sweet Success Penobscot Nation Restores Cultural Use of Water Tribes Diversify with Private Equity Fund The Native American YouTube Tribal Government: An Introduction to Strategic Planning

American Indian Report - May 2008

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