Shoshone Indian Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming v. United States
United States Court of Federal Claims
56 Fed. Cl. 639 (2003)
The Shoshone Indian Tribe (plaintiff) sued the federal government, alleging the Minerals Management Service (MMS) breached its fiduciary duty by failing to maximize the Tribe's mineral royalties and by failing to properly value production under governing regulations, and separately claimed it was owed royalties based on a lessee's take-or-pay payments for minerals never actually produced; the Tribe conceded it could not maintain the maximization claim, and the government moved to dismiss the valuation claim and for summary judgment on the take-or-pay claim.
Whether a Native American tribe states a claim against the federal government for breach of fiduciary duty if the tribe identifies a substantive source of law that establishes a specific duty, and alleges that the government failed to perform the duty faithfully.