Instant Message
Email
Phone
In Person
  Finding Aid for the Seneca Land Claims Records, 1994-2005Law Spec. Coll. 07Charles B. Sears Law LibraryO'Brian Hall University at Buffalo, State University of New York Buffalo, New York 14260-1110 United States Phone: 716 645-2047 Fax: 716 645-3860 Email: asklaw@buffalo.edu URL: http://law.lib.buffalo.edu
Cite items for this collection in the following format:
Please use the following URL when citing this document:
http://purl.org/net/findingaids/view?docId=ead/law/ublaw0007.xml © 2007. State University of New York at Buffalo. All rights reserved. 
Information for UsersPreferred Citation[Specified item], Box/Folder #, Law Spec. Coll. 07, Seneca Land Claim Records, 1994-2005, Charles B. Sears Law Library, State University of New York at Buffalo. Terms of Access and UseThe bulk of the Seneca Nation Land Claims Papers are open for research. Materials can be examined by qualified researchers in the Law Library during hours of operation during which Law Reference Librarians are present. In order to insure access, researchers are advised to contact the Law Library in advance of visits. CopyrightCourt materials are in the public domain. Copyright of background research materials lies with the respective authors or authors' heirs and publishers. Researchers must obtain the written permission of the holder(s) of copyright. Most papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures unless otherwise specified. Administrative InformationAcquisition InformationCollection was donated by Peter B. Sullivan,, Deputy Assistant Attorney General-in-Charge, New York Attorney General's Office, Buffalo, New York in January 2007. Accruals and AdditionsNo further accruals are expected to this collection. Processing InformationProcessed by Karen L. Spencer in 2007. Historical NoteIn the late 20th Century the Seneca Indians commenced two actions against the State of New York regarding land rights in New York, one challenging the State's claim of ownership to approximately 50 acres under and adjoining Cuba Lake and another which claimed tribal ownership of all islands in the Niagara River within U.S. waters, including Grand Island, the largest, and separately contested the State and New York Thruway Authority's 1954 right-of-way over the Cattaraugus Reservation. [Previously in 1955, the Nation filed, Seneca Nation of Indians v. Ek in the United States District Court in Buffalo, contesting the Cuba Lake properties, but allowed the case to lapse. A copy of the complaint in that action is ex. D to the April 18, 2001, declaration of Peter B. Sullivan filed in the 1985 Cuba Lake action (see Series IV). The Seneca Nation and the Tonawanda Band also filed claims with the Indian Claims Commission.] In 1985 the Seneca Nation of Indians (SNI) filed a land claim against the State of New York for lands comprising the Oil Springs Reservation located around Cuba Lake in Cattaraugus and Allegany Counties'. Summary judgment on liability was granted in favor of the plaintiffs finding that the State violated the Nonintercourse Act when it purported to extinguish Indian title to the Oil Spring Reservation lands in 1858 through its power of eminent domain as part of a project to construct a reservoir which would provide water for the Genesee and Erie Canals. Seneca Nation of Indians v. New York, 26 F. Supp.2d 555 (W.D.N.Y. 1998)(NO. 85-CV-411C), aff'd 178 F.3d 95 (2d Cir. 1999), cert denied New York v. Seneca Nation of Indians, 528 U.S. 1073 (2000). Mediated settlement on remedies was approved by Judge Curtin on June 27, 2005. In 1993 the SNI filed a land claim against the State of New York for Grand Island, an island in the Niagara River near Buffalo, New York. Later, the Tonawanda Band of Senecas (Tonawanda Senecas) and the United States joined as plaintiffs. Motion for summary judgment was granted for the defendant State of New York. Seneca Nation of Indians v. New York, 206 F. Supp 2d 448 (W.D.N.Y. 2002) (NO. 93-CV-688A), aff'd 383 F3d 245 (2nd Cir. 2004), cert denied 126 S.Ct. 2351, 165 L.Ed.2d 278. Procedural chronology of the Seneca Nation Land Claims provided by Peter B. Sullivan on February 23, 2007: Cuba Lake The Cuba Lake case was commenced in 1985 by the SNI against the State. The complaint was amended in 1993 to add as defendants individuals who leased from the State cottages along the Lake in the claim area. In 1997 the United States intervened as a plaintiff, to overcome the likely jurisdictional bar of the Eleventh Amendment, and in 1998 the District Court granted summary judgment to plaintiffs on the liability issue. Seneca Nation of Indians v. New York, 26 F. Supp.2d 555 (W.D.N.Y. 1998) (NO. 85-CV-411C), aff'd 178 F.3d 95 (2d Cir. 1999), cert. denied New York v. Seneca Nation of Indians, 528 U.S. 1073 (2000). The parties then briefed the issue of remedies, but before ruling on that issue the Court encouraged the parties to engage a private mediator to oversee settlement discussions. As a result of these discussions the parties entered into a settlement agreement which was approved by the Court on June 23, 2005. Grand Island/Thruway This action was filed in 1993, with the SNI the sole plaintiff and the State, the Thruway Authority, and six individuals and businesses sued as representatives of a class of property owners as defendants. The original complaint pleaded for its first cause of action the Grand Island claim against all defendants, and the Thruway easement claim against the State and the Authority. Soon thereafter the Tonawanda Band of Seneca Indians, which diverged from the SNI in the 1840s, intervened as a plaintiff in the Islands claim only. In 1997, following the decision in Idaho v. Coeur D'alene Tribe of Idaho, 521 U.S. 261 (1997), both plaintiffs filed amended complaints (the second such amended by the SNI, the first by the Tonawandas). In 1998 the United States intervened as a plaintiff. In 1999 the Magistrate Judge recommended granting the defense motion to dismiss the claim relating to the Thruway easement and the District Judge issued an order to this effect. In 2002 the District Court granted defendants' summary judgment motion and dismissed the entire action. Plaintiffs then appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, on both the Grand Island and the Thruway claim, and that Court affirmed in 2005. The tribal plaintiffs (but not plaintiff United States) petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case, but the certiorari application was denied, finally terminating the action. Scope and Content NoteCollection includes official court filings and decisions, expert reports and maps, and background research materials prepared during the New York Attorney General's defense of the Grand Island an Oil Springs Reservation land claims. Included in Series III is a microfilm copy of the Paul G. Reilly Collection held at Butler Library, State University of New York College at Buffalo. This collection does not represent a complete record. Mr. Sullivan sent more complete records to the New York State Archives as listed in Series V. ArrangementThe collection is arranged in five series: Series I. Grand Island - Motion for Summary Judgment Subseries A. Pleadings Subseries B. Motion Papers: Briefs Subseries C. Motion Papers: Documentary Evidence Subseries D. Oral Argument Subseries E. U.S. District Court decision Series II. Grand Island- Appeals Subseries A. U.S. Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit Subseries B. U.S. Supreme Court Series III. Grand Island- Discovery and Background research materials Subseries A. Defense Expert Reports Subseries B. Plaintiff Expert Reports Subseries C. Miscellaneous background research Subseries D. Paul G. Reilly Collection Series IV. Oil Springs Reservation Series V. Additional Material Container List
 Search Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. ContributorsBowler, R. Arthur
Campisi, Jack
De Vorsey, Louis
DeLoria, Vine
Duffield, Lathel F. (Lathel Flay)
Edmunds, David R.
Gernet, Alexander von
Hauptman, Laurence M.
Hutchins, Francis G.
Oberg, Michael Leroy
Rakove, Jack N.,
1947-
Reilly, Paul G.
Rubenfeld, Jed, 1959-
Seneca Nation of New
York
Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of
Oklahoma
Starna, William A.
Tonawanda Band of Seneca Indians of New York
United States. Indian Claims
Commission
SubjectsAllegany State Park
(N.Y.)
Cuba Lake (N.Y.)
Grand Island (N.Y. : Island)
Indian title
Indians of
North America Government relations 1789-1869
Indians of North America
History
Oil Spring Reservation
(N.Y.)
Seneca Nation of
New York
Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma
Six Nations
Six Nations. Treaties, etc. United States, 1784 Oct.
22
Six Nations. Treaties, etc. United States, 1794 Nov.
11
Tonawanda Band of Seneca
Indians of New York
Genre TermsCourt records
Legal
documents
Associated MaterialsRelated Resources
This Law Special Collection includes books on the
Haudenosaunee (also known as the Iroquois Indians or Six Nations) with special
emphasis on the Senecas and Tuscaroras.
This Law Special Collection includes books on the
Haudenosaunee (also known as the Iroquois Indians or Six Nations) as well as
the papers of Mr. Berman who was an early leader in the development of law on
the rights of indigenous peoples.
This Law Special Collection contains materials from
litigation of Onondaga Nation land claims in central New York State,
Onondaga Nation v. New York, et al, U.S. District
Court, Northern District of New York, Docket 05-CV-0314
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |