How to resolve AdBlock issue? LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — On Thursday, a federal court handed down a decision in the ongoing legal battle over a Lake County tribe’s attempt to establish a casino in Vallejo, with both proponents and opponents of the project claiming victory in the ruling.
The United States District Court for the District of Columbia handed down the opinion in the Lakeport-based Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians’ lawsuit against U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.
Judge Trevor McFadden allowed for Scotts Valley to continue pursuing the project while upholding the Department of Interior’s ability to reevaluate it.
The decision keeps alive the tribe’s plan for a massive casino project that is anticipated to generate hundreds of millions of dollars a year. However, the 35-page decision emphasizes that the Department of Interior is still in the process of conducting a review of its previous determination earlier this year that cleared the way for the project to proceed.
Both Scotts Valley and the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, one of the project’s principal opponents, hailed the decision as a victory for their respective sides.
Scotts Valley focused on the court restoring gaming eligibility to the tribe’s trust land in Vallejo after challenging the Department of Interior’s March decision to rescind and reconsider its prior determination that the Vallejo property qualified as “restored lands” under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, or IGRA.
The “restored lands” exception of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act allows a casino off-reservation if a tribe can prove a historical connection to the land.
“This victory is about more than gaming — it’s about fairness, tribal sovereignty, and the fundamental right of our people to move forward in building a brighter future,” said Scotts Valley Chairman Shawn Davis in a statement released to Lake County News on Thursday “Today’s decision opens the door to new opportunities and prosperity for our tribal members and for our neighbors in Vallejo and Solano County.”
On the other side, the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation applauded the court’s decision rejecting the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians’ challenge to the Department of the Interior’s reconsideration of the project.
“Today’s court decision correctly reaffirms the Department of the Interior’s decision to reevaluate this proposed casino, which would destroy irreparable cultural and ecological resources and has already been rejected three other times by the Department,” said Yocha Dehe Chairman Anthony Roberts in a Thursday statement. “As the Department stated in its letter announcing its decision to reconsider the project, this process will assess all facts and evidence — revealing what history already makes clear: Scotts Valley has no historical connection to this land.”
The background to the legal decision
Scotts Valley is proposing a $700 million, 400,000-square-foot mega casino complex, along with 24 homes and an administrative building, on a 128-acre site near I-80 and Highway 37 in Vallejo.
The tribe said its casino plan underwent nearly a decade of litigation and agency review before it received a favorable determination on its fee-to-trust application from the Department of Interior on Jan. 10.
That decision, in the final days of the Biden Administration, found the casino project eligible for gaming under IGRA.
Scotts Valley has estimated that its Vallejo casino project will generate $243.5 million a year.
However, the casino project has been vehemently opposed by many residents and leaders in the Vallejo area, and criticism due to Scotts Valley’s home territory being more than 100 miles away in Lake County.
Four neighboring tribes have led the opposition to the plan. They include the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, which owns Cache Creek Casino in Yolo County, and the Kletsel Dehe Band of Wintun Indians, a nongaming tribe based in Colusa County, both are Patwin tribes with ancestral ties to Vallejo.
There also is the United Auburn Indian Community which has a casino on its traditional lands in Placer County and the Lytton Rancheria, which operates a casino in San Pablo.
Those tribes’ objections include the fact that the project would bulldoze a cultural site sacred to local Patwin tribes.
Despite Scotts Valley’s claims about previous review of the plan, the Yocha Dehe said the Department of Interior in January “decided to reconsider a rushed, last-minute approval of the project, noting that important evidence had not been considered, and despite “mass opposition” from other tribes, government officials and thousands of concerned citizens.
The Yocha Dehe also maintained that, prior to the January decision, the Department of Interior had determined on three separate occasions that Scotts Valley lacks the significant historical connection to the Bay Area needed to acquire land eligible for gaming, including to Vallejo specifically.
On March 24, the Yocha Dehe and Kletsel Dehe filed a lawsuit against the Department of the Interior, challenging the decision to allow the casino to go forward.
On March 27, the Department of Interior informed Scotts Valley in a letter that it was rescinding the gaming eligibility determination granted to the tribe under the Biden Administration in January in order for it to be reconsidered.
That led to Scotts Valley suing the Department of the Interior on April 1, claiming that the agency’s decision to rescind the determination violates federal law and trust obligations, and was motivated by “unfounded opposition from competitors.”
Judge considers aspects of Interior’s action
The Scotts Valley suit against the Department of Interior was the focus of the memorandum decision handed down on Thursday by Judge McFadden.
McFadden wrote that the case “is about an agency’s reversal,” explaining the Department of Interior’s January decision followed, 11 weeks later, by the agency telling Scotts Valley “that it was temporarily rescinding and reconsidering the parcel’s gaming eligibility. The Department directed the Band not to rely on the previous determination while it reevaluates.”
Scotts Valley, the judge noted, was challenging both Interior’s rescission and reconsideration, asserting that each violated the Administrative Procedure Act and the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.
McFadden addressed those two actions separately, finding that the reconsideration, which is not final, is not subject to Administrative Procedure Act review.
However, he found that the rescission constitutes final agency action. While he ruled against the tribe on its three claims that Administrative Procedure Act review also was required in that case, McFadden found in Scotts Valley’s favor on the due process claim.
Judge McFadden acknowledged that in the case, “The interests are weighty on both sides.”
This includes Scotts Valley’s assertion about the benefits of the project. As McFadden noted, “Interior regulations require a tribe to submit ‘restored lands’ applications within 25 years of the tribe’s restoration,” which means in this case, “this is the Band’s last chance.”
McFadden found that, on the due process side, Interior, by its own admission, gave Scotts Valley no warning before rescinding its gaming eligibility. “While leaving Scotts Valley in the dark, the agency communicated several times and even met with the neighboring tribes before the March rescission. … Once it informed the Band, Interior explained simply that ‘the Secretary [wa]s concerned that the Department did not consider additional evidence submitted after the 2022 Remand.’”
The 2022 remand refers to a federal judge’s 2022 decision ordering Interior to reconsider the project after it had been turned down previously.
On the topic of due process as it related to Interior’s decision on the tribe’s gaming eligibility, McFadden found that Interior failed to provide sufficient notice to Scotts Valley.
“In short, the rescission violated due process. Once Interior took the Vallejo parcel into
trust and determined that it was eligible for gaming, Scotts Valley acquired a legitimate property
interest in that determination. Because the agency rescinded the parcel’s gaming eligibility with
barely any notice or hearing, it infringed the Band’s due-process right,” McFadden wrote.
He said he would vacate that rescission.
However, McFadden was clear that his ruling did not bar Interior “from continuing its reconsideration, nor does it stop the Department from revoking the Band’s gaming eligibility at the end of that process. For that reason, Scotts Valley would be ill-served by placing undue reliance on today’s decision. But Interior, too, must take seriously the Band’s reliance interests, and it must provide the required due process. The Court recognizes that this dispute is likely far from over, and it decides only the snapshot properly before it.”
In summary, McFadden granted summary judgment against Scotts Valley’s challenges to Interior’s reconsideration of the project and the tribe’s claims that the process violated Administrative Procedure Act requirements. At the same time, he granted summary judgment in favor of Scotts Valley on its due process claim.
“The Court’s decision reaffirms that the federal government cannot revoke a tribe’s rights without fair process,” said Patrick R. Bergin, counsel for the Tribe. “Scotts Valley welcomes this ruling, which restores the Tribe’s gaming eligibility and ensures that Interior must follow the law before taking it away.”
“For years we have worked with our federal, state, and local partners to shed light on the flaws in this process,” Yocha Dehe Chairman Roberts continued. “We are grateful the Department can continue doing the right thing by evaluating all evidence. We are confident this reconsideration process will reveal the truth Scotts Valley has attempted to hide from the very start – their ancestral lands are not in Vallejo, and they never were.”
The ruling takes immediate effect.
Another Lake County tribe locked in challenges over casino project
In related news, the Koi Nation of Northern California, formerly based in Lower Lake, has proposed a $600 million casino project in Windsor, but also has faced opposition from the community and tribes there.
Gov. Gavin Newsom opposed both the Scotts Valley and Koi projects, as his staff informed Interior in an August 2024 letter, which noted that Gov. Gavin Newsom, while having respect for tribal sovereignty, was concerned about Interior using “the ‘restored lands’ exception to support projects that are focused less on restoring the relevant tribes’ aboriginal homelands, and more on creating new gaming operations in desirable markets.”
Despite this opposition, like Scotts Valley, the Koi’s project was approved in January by the Interior Department in the last days of the Biden administration.
Last month, a judge set Interior’s land-to-trust decision on the Koi project aside.
The Koi have stated their intention to appeal the decision.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
