FOLLOW US

A federal judge in Washington state on Wednesday tossed a ranch's $48 million negligence lawsuit alleging the Bureau of Indian Affairs is liable for damages from a 2020 wildfire, ruling that agreements between the bureau and a Native American tribe did not spell out a specific firefighting duty.

Townsend Ranch LLC argued the U.S. Department of the Interior and the BIA's contracts with the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation made the federal government liable for a fire that broke out at a sawmill controlled by the tribe. The suit sought to put the feds on the hook for what it described as negligence of tribal employees and their failure to suppress burning leaves and tree limbs at a mill owned by a tribal company before the smoldering slash pile grew into a wildfire.

In siding with the BIA, U.S. District Judge Thomas O. Rice determined that a contract between the bureau and the Confederated Tribes stated the tribe's responsibility was to manage the health of forest lands on its reservation and generate revenue from harvested lumber.

The ranch further contended that the forest management program was broader than mere oversight of forest land and included a responsibility to "provide corrective action to forest stands impacted by wildfire," the ruling recounted.

But Judge Rice said he found that position "unavailing," and granted the government's motion to dismiss with prejudice.

"The fact that the forest management contract includes a general mandate to the Confederated Tribes to maintain and protect forestland does not necessarily implicate a specific duty to protect the privately held and developed mill property," the judge wrote in an order.

He noted that a local fire district was responsible for suppressing the remaining smoldering fire at the mill's slash piles.

BIA Wildfire Negligence Suit

A second agreement for fire protection between the BIA and the tribe, as well as a memorandum of understanding with the town of Nespelem, Washington, and the lease of a fire hall to the Colville Tribes' emergency services department do not mention fire protection outside those areas, Judge Rice said.

"The court takes judicial notice that the city of Omak, where the mill is located, is outside the town of Nespelem," the ruling read.

The judge also said it didn't matter that a BIA-managed fire center monitored the blaze and assisted in mop-ups.

Townsend Ranch and members of the Townsend family, who own the farm, sued the government in June 2023. They asserted that the BIA and Colville Tribal Federal Corp., a business arm of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, ignored warnings from employees of a nearby city and tribal fire department officials that a long-smoldering pile of forest scraps posed a significant wildfire risk.

According to the suit, the Interior Department and the BIA gave funding to the Confederated Tribes through two contracts to provide fire protection services on tribal land and manage a forestry program.

The tribal corporation owned land in Okanogan County, Washington, that housed the site of an old mill, which contained piles of smoldering leaves and tree limbs that the ranch insisted was the source of the wildfire after high winds swept through the area.

The blaze destroyed livestock and ranch machinery, as well as more than 82 miles of fencing and multiple structures, including a pump house, a shed, and a barn, the ranchers said.

The BIA argued that the agreements cited in the ranch's complaint did not cover the government's liability for the wildfire. The bureau said the agreements deal only with forest management and firefighting and fire protection services for the town of Nespelem.

The ranch's counsel, Richard C. Eymann of Eymann Allison Jones PS, said that these types of Federal Tort Claims Act cases are always difficult "getting past the jurisdictional defenses protecting federal governmental agencies."

"The court decision is disappointing given the very substantial losses suffered by the Townsends," Eymann said, adding that the ranch was considering an appeal.

Representatives of the BIA did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment.

Townsend Ranch and its owners are represented by Richard C. Eymann of Eymann Allison Jones PS.

The government is represented by Derek T. Taylor and John T. Drake of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Washington.

The case is Townsend Ranch LLC et al. v. U.S., case number 2:23-cv-00170, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington.