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The history of the Cayuga Indian Nation’s land trust application can be traced to the American Revolution, which split the Iroquois Confederacy, also known as the Six Nations, between the Americans and British. The Cayugas, among others of the Six Nations, were loyal to the British. During the war, the Cayugas and others retreated to Fort Niagara, a British stronghold, and remained there under British protection until after the war. In 1784, the United States entered into a treaty with the Cayugas and other Iroquois that sided with the British, which granted peace, but in return extinguished Indian title to millions of acres of Iroquois lands without paying compensation. Several Cayugas and other Iroquois moved to a reservation in Canada; others moved to Buffalo Creek in Western New York. In 1789, New York State entered into a treaty with Cayuga leaders to set aside 64,015 acres (territory now the subject of the land in trust application) of ceded lands for the Cayugas for their common “use and cultivation.” In its application to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Cayuga Nation identifies the 64,015 acres in Cayuga and Seneca Counties that were “reserved and guaranteed to the Nation as recognized by the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua.” In that treaty, the United States acknowledged the lands reserved to the Cayuga Nation in its 1789 Treaty with New York State “to be their property” and such lands “shall remain theirs, until they choose to sell the same to the people of the United States, who have the right to purchase it.” The Cayugas ultimately sold to New York State their interest in 60,815 acres of land reserved to them in the 1789 Treaty, and received a payment of $1,800 and a perpetual annuity of $1,800 which has been paid to the United States Indian Agent. The Cayugas also reserved a tract of land two miles square for a small number of Cayuga families near Cayuga Lake. In 1807, a treaty was signed between the Cayuga Nation and New York State approving the transfer of approximately 3,200 acres of the remaining land to New York for $4,800. In the two centuries that have passed since the treaties, the state has paid and the Cayugas have accepted monies during a series of land sales. Generations of innocent landowners purchased and improved the subject land, paid taxes, and built businesses and schools. Local municipalities and the state spent millions of dollars on infrastructure improvements. Oneida Nation Land Claim In the mid-1960s, the Oneida Indian Nation sought the return of aboriginal lands in Madison and Oneida Counties. A test case was filed in 1970 against the counties in federal court that claimed New York violated federal Indian treaties and the Indian Trade and Nonintercourse Acts of the late 1790s. In 1974, the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Oneidas, which essentially opened the federal courts to other Indians seeking the return of lands in New York and the other original 13 Colonies. In New York, several Indian Nations, including the Cayugas, filed land claim lawsuits. A critical strategy developed by counsel to the Oneida Indians, involved suing the counties as a procedural step to access the federal courts. Of note, Seneca County and Cayuga County did not exist at the time of the relevant treaties and related activities of the complaints. Involving the counties is a procedural step to a claim against the state. The State of New York agreed to pay the cost of defense for Seneca and Cayuga Counties. Harris Beach PLLC has represented the counties since the 1990s under a contract with the state. In 2005, the United States Supreme Court in the City of Sherrill v. the Oneida Indian Nation of New York dismissed the Oneida’s land claim. In response to the Supreme Court decision, the Oneida’s commenced an action in federal court to re-open their land claim but limited their request for additional compensation. They also purchased land in the claim area and applied to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the land to be held in trust. The Cayuga’s followed suit, leaving the residents of Seneca and Caygua Counties to now defend claims for additional compensation and challenge efforts to take land into trust. Cayuga Nation Land Claim In 1980, the Cayuga Indian Nation of New York and the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma filed suit against Cayuga and Seneca Counties claiming New York State illegally acquired 64,015 acres of land without congressional approval in 1795 and 1807. Harris Beach defended Seneca and Cayuga Counties. In 1999, Bill Dorr and Dan Moore of Harris Beach won the critical ruling where ejectment of property owners was removed as a remedy. The Cayuga claims were then left with a claim of compensation. A federal jury ruled in favor of the Cayugas in 2000 and awarded them $36 million with interest. The award was increased to $248 million in 2001 by a federal judge. In 2005, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit dismissed the federal judge’s award, thus, putting an end to the 1980 land claim. In May 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari. Oneida Nation’s Land into Trust and its Impact on the Cayuga Nation’s Land into Trust Application In May 2008, the Bureau of Indian Affairs granted approval to the Oneida Indian Nation's land into trust application with respect to lands in Madison and Oneida Counties. The State of New York and Oneida and Madison Counties are fighting that decision in federal court. Cayuga and Seneca Counties believe that litigation could possibly impact the Cayuga Indian Nation’s land into trust application and have filed amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) briefs. The Oneida Indian Nation also re-opened its original land claim lawsuit that was previously dismissed to seek fair market value for the lands it sold in Madison and Oneida Counties many years ago. An appeal in that suit is currently pending before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Following this precedent, the Cayuga Indian Nation has also re-opened its original land claim lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York against Cayuga and Seneca Counties. The Cayuga Nation had lost its land claim in a 2005 decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The U. S. District Court is holding its decision on the Cayuga Nation’s request to re-open its suit pending the Second Circuit's decision on the Oneida Nation’s claim. Click here to return to the Relevant Information page. |