Polly Creek Estate Trust, et al v. Knikatnu Inc. and Tyonek Native Corporation

Plaintiffs’ counsel acknowledged at oral argument that there was no genuine issue of material fact. At this stage of the litigation, the Court need only determine whether Defendants are entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law.In their Complaint, Plaintiffs asked this Court to order Defendants to convey the airstrip land to the Trust because they were entitled to such a transfer under 43 U.S.C. § 1613(c)(1). Section 1613 specifies procedures by which an Alaska Native corporation may obtain title to Alaskan land to which it is entitled under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, (ANCSA). Once the Native Corporation has obtained land under ANCSA, subsection (c)(1) provides that an individual who occupied those lands as of December 18, 1971, may receive, from the Native corporation, title to the lands they used at that time. This conveyance does not require the payment of consideration.[14] The right to reconveyance is limited, however, to four types of occupancy. The land to which the occupant seeks title must have been used, as of December 1971, “as a primary place of residence, or as a primary place of business, or as a subsistence campsite, or as headquarters for reindeer husbandry[.]”[15] Plaintiffs rest their subsection (c)(1) claims on the assertion that the airstrip “provides access to the plaintiffs’ primary place of business and subsistence site at Polly Creek.”[16]Defendants argue in their motion that the airstrip land does not fit any of the purposes stated in § 1613(c)(1). Defendants further argue that the airstrip cannot fall within the reach of subsection (c)(1) because Congress specifically addressed the disposition of “airport sites” in § 1613(c)(4). Plaintiffs oppose the motion, arguing that “[w]ithout a right of access to the airstrip sought in John Swiss’s §14(c)(1) application, plaintiffs will be unable to safely and conveniently gain access to, and use, their patented lands as the primary place of their commercial fishing business and their subsistence campsite[.]”[17]

‍

Adds precedent that influences how ANCSA corporations, regulators, and shareholders interpret governance rights and remedies.