ELR Citation: 42 ELR 20011
No(s). 2010-5150 (Fed. Cir. Jan 9, 2012)

The Federal Circuit vacated and remanded a lower court decision dismissing Native American tribes' claim that the government unlawfully converted oil and gas leases on a reservation from one type of lease to another. The lower court dismissed the claims on statute of limitations grounds. The tribes, however, allege a continuing trespass. The tribes expressly asserted an "illegal conversion" of the leases, a claim that the lower court could reasonably conclude encompassed the concept of trespass. Because their claim asserts a continuing trespass, the tribes can seek damages for trespasses that occurred within six years of the filing of this suit and all trespasses that occurred after the filing of this suit. Before the suit can move forward, however, the tribes must establish that the government had a duty to eject trespassers from the seven parcels at issue. The case, therefore, was remanded to determine whether the government had such a duty.