Water Education Foundation
This is just one post in the Indian Water Rights Category
Click here to view all posts

Colorado River eviction dispute in hands of tribal court

Posted by: Maven on December 8, 2008 at 6:45 am

From Riverside’s Press-Enterprise:

A long-running dispute between some Colorado River residents and their tribal landlord is intensifying as both sides await a tribal appellate court decision on an eviction dispute.

The battle between Bob Johnson and the Colorado River Indian Tribes, a single tribe known as CRIT, centers on a mobile home resort he runs called the Water Wheel Resort. The 26-acre resort is about 25 miles north of Interstate 10 near the Arizona border.

The tribe took Johnson to its own tribal court to recoup back rent and evict him after the two were unable to renegotiate his lease last year. The tribe said his $2,600 in annual rent was under market value and reset it at $101,500 a year, while Johnson said an appraiser he hired set the value at $14,504 a year.

Johnson lost at the tribe’s lower-level court, and now they’re awaiting a ruling from the tribe’s appellate court. Once the tribal appellate court rules, Johnson’s attorney plans to file a challenge in federal court, which they believe is the proper venue for their dispute anyway.

Johnson and his supporters say the case is about much more than the future of his business. They say other tenants are at risk of losing their homes, their assets and what they call their “river lifestyle” without any recourse to a tribe they believe has no legal claim in California. They say the reservation’s western boundary extends only as far as the Arizona side of the Colorado River instead of straddling the river with land in both states.

The tribe rejects those claims and maintains that its reservation straddles the river. And the tribe has said it has good relationships with other business owners, has the right to set rental rates and has judicial jurisdiction over Water Wheel and other leaseholders.

Read more from the Press-Enterprise by clicking here.

December 8, 2008 · Filed Under Indian Water Rights

Comments

Leave a Reply