Ex-Ute leaders to get day in federal court

FORT DUCHESNE, Uintah County — Two ousted members of the Ute Tribe Business Committee have been given a second chance to state their case before a federal court, arguing that federal and tribal officials owe them millions of dollars for conspiring to violate their civil rights.

In 2003, Luke Duncan and Ronald J. Wopsock were expelled from the tribe's governing body after filing a federal lawsuit in which they demanded that the Bureau of Indian Affairs investigate the activities of the tribe's controversial financial adviser, John Jurrius. A month after they filed the legal action, Duncan and Wopsock were ousted under a little-used provision of the tribal constitution that allows four members of the Business Committee to expel another member for "gross misconduct" or "neglect of duty."

Duncan and Wopsock have maintained the charges against them were trumped up and the real motivation for their removal was their criticism of Jurrius. "All we did was ask Jurrius for paperwork that backed up decisions that he was asking the Business Committee to make," said Duncan. "When he refused to give us that paperwork, we took legal action to compel the BIA to produce the documentation."

Not too long after the suit was filed, Duncan and Wopsock found themselves out of the jobs they had been elected to by members of their respective tribal band.

In 2004, the pair filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the tribal officials who ousted them (Maxine Natchees, Smiley Arrowchis, Richard Jenks Jr. and Roland McCook, Sr.), BIA Superintendent Chester Mills, Jurrius and his former associate Susan M. Hammer, saying the seven officials conspired to retaliate against them for exercising their right to freedom of speech.

"Basically, they expelled us because we didn't agree with Jurrius keeping everything he does a secret, even from the Business Committee," said Wopsock.

Federal District Court Judge Ted Stewart dismissed the duo's lawsuit, finding it dealt with an intra-tribal political dispute that could only be resolved internally by the tribe. Duncan and Wopsock appealed the dismissal to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C.

The two men learned last week that a three-judge panel of the Federal Circuit will hear oral argument in their appeal on Friday, June 9.

"Oral argument gives us a ray of hope that, finally, the federal courts might enforce Indians' civil rights, just like they enforce every other Americans' civil rights," Wopsock said.

In their lawsuit, Wopsock and Duncan have asked that the defendants be ordered to pay them each $18 million.

"We aren't asking for any money from the tribe or the federal government; they did nothing wrong, but the individual defendants did," said Duncan. "They should have to pay out of their own pockets to compensate us for lost wages, damage to our reputations and other injuries. They should have to pay so that they never violate anyone's civil rights again."

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