As featured on Turtle Talk, Galanda Broadman recently defeated summary judgment in a San Juan Superior Court case in which we are representing tribal member plaintiffs who directly descend from a Lummi/Clallam Chief. The Chief's grave and headstone sits on waterfront fee land on San Juan Island in Washington State, where that ancestor has lied in rest since the year 1900. In December 2012, the tribal plaintiffs allege that the Chief's headstone was disturbed, in violation of the state Indian Graves and Records Act and a covenant running with the land.
The case asks the question: who holds what sticks in the bundle of property rights, regarding an American Indian ancestors grave?
Galanda Broadman, an Indian Country Law Firm, is dedicated to advancing tribal legal rights and Indian business interests. The firm, with offices in Seattle, Washington and Bend, Oregon, represents tribal governments, businesses and members in critical litigation, business and regulatory matters, especially in matters of Indian Treaty rights, tribal sovereignty and taxation.
