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[forwarded by Pat Morris. Thanks...]

Wed, 26 Jan 2000
http://www.timesunion.com:80/AspStories/story.asp?storyKey=26552&category=F

Land's value at heart of Cayuga claim case

State, federal appraisers' figures separated by nearly
$300 million gap

SYRACUSE -- Five state lawyers began trying to convince a federal
jury Monday that New York owes the Cayuga Indians no more than
$50 million for illegally taking their ancestral lands in the Finger
Lakes two centuries ago.

That same five-woman, four-man jury was told by lawyers for the U.S.
Department of Justice and the Cayugas that the market value and
rental fees owed the Indians exceed $335 million.

In the first day of trial on the Cayuga land claim compensation case,
the battle lines were drawn. The case could set a precedent for four
other major Indian land claim cases in New York.

"The burden of proof is on the plaintiffs,'' said David Roberts, one of
five assistant attorneys general defending the state in U.S. District
Court.

He told the jury that the state's appraiser determined that the Indians
are owed either $31.5 million, including $6.5 million for rent, or $50
million, including $10 million in rent.

The appraiser, John Dorchester, calculates the property taken from the
Indians as being worth either $400 per acre or $625 per acre.

Martin Gold, lawyer for the Cayuga Indian Nation of New York, said the
value of the land is closer to $4,100 per acre.

The Cayugas have been without any land since the state acquired their
entire 64,015-acre reservation in two deals, in 1795 and 1807. The state
agreed to pay $1,800 per year forever to the Indians for the land and
has kept that promise, Roberts said.

But both deals were invalid because they did not receive federal approval,
as required under a 1793 U.S. law to protect Indians from land-grabbers.

The New York Cayugas and the Seneca Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma are
suing the state for loss of their land, rent and minerals. The 64,015
acres make up the borders of the northern end of Cayuga Lake in
Seneca and Cayuga counties.

U.S. District Court Judge Neal McCurn told the jury that the Indians will
not receive land in the case --  only money with which they may
repurchase reservation land from willing sellers.

The land in question is occupied by 7,000 property owners and 11,000
residents, but the judge said no one will be forced out as part of the
court decision.

McCurn said he will rule on interest owed -- which could be substantial,
compounding for over 200 years. McCurn rejected the Cayugas' expert
appraiser, who had estimated fair market value plus interest at $3
billion. That leaves the federal government's expert -- former Bureau
of Indian Affairs appraiser Arvel Hale -- as setting the high mark of
$335 million.

Courts previously ruled that the state violated two treaties when the
Cayugas sold their land, including the Treaty of Canandaigua, which
set the boundaries of land belonging to all of the Iroquois nations.

Similar illegal transactions by the state resulted in land lost by the
Mohawk, Seneca and Oneida Indians, which have similar damage
cases pending. The Onondaga are awaiting the outcome of the
Cayuga case to file their lawsuit.

Even as the trial began, negotiators were continuing to attempt an
out-of-court settlement, said Jerry Dilliner, chief of the Seneca Cayuga
Tribe, based in Miami, Okla.

"It's promising that we're still talking (settlement) and today was opening
arguments,'' said Clint Halftown, a Cayuga spokesman who attended
the trial.

He said the nation would likely accept a settlement within the range of
the two government appraisals instead of risking a jury award. Sources
have pegged the figure under discussion at about $130 million.

A spokesman for Gov. George Pataki confirmed settlement talks with
the Oneidas and Cayugas.

The Oneida Indians -- with a land claim region of 250,000 acres --
began an intensive three-day, round-the-clock settlement session
Monday, and spokesman Mark Emery said the settlement master
appointed by McCurn wants a report by the end of this month.

"In my eyes if the jury awards the Cayugas ... a big award, when our
case goes in, the state will understand the low-balling they are doing
now isn't going to work,'' said Onondaga Indian Erlan Pierce, who
emphasized he wasn't speaking for the nation as a whole.

"I think it's going to set a standard,'' said Gus McDonald, a spokesman
for the Mohawks. "We're just sitting back and watching.''
 
 

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