USA For Jemez, Santa, et al v. Abousleman, et al

Filing 4462

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO EXTEND STAY OF LITIGATION by District Judge Kea W. Riggs. The 4453 Expedited Joint Motion to Amend Scheduling Order [Doc. 4452, 10/28/21] is GRANTED. The Court EXTENDS the current stay of litigat ion in this case until June 1, 2022. The Court RESETS the March 1, 2022 deadline for the Pueblos of Jemez, Zia and Santa Ana, and the United States to file their initial briefs to June 8, 2022, with responses due on August 8, 2022, and replies due on September 7, 2022. No additional extensions of the stay of litigation will be granted absent extraordinary circumstances. (ve)

Case 6:83-cv-01041-KWR-JHR Document 4462 Filed 03/01/22 Page 1 of 4

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW MEXICO

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, on its
own behalf and on behalf of the
PUEBLOS OF JEMEZ, SANTA ANA, and ZIA,
and
STATE OF NEW MEXICO, ex rel.
State Engineer,
Plaintiffs,

No. 6:83-cv-01041-KWR-JHR
JEMEZ RIVER ADJUDICATION

and
THE PUEBLOS OF JEMEZ, SANTA ANA, and ZIA,
Plaintiffs-in-Intervention,
v.
TOM ABOUSLEMAN, et al.,
Defendants.
ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO EXTEND STAY OF LITIGATION
THIS MATTER comes before the Court on the Expedited Joint Motion to Amend
Scheduling Order, Doc. 4453, filed February 10, 2022.
This case was stayed for about five years, from 2007 until early in 2012, while the Parties
pursued settlement negotiations. The Parties returned to litigation after the negotiations broke
down in 2012. The Parties identified five threshold legal issues to be addressed before the Court
could determine the Pueblos' water rights. The Court entered its ruling on one of the threshold
issues in September 2017, from which some Parties appealed. In December 2020, the Tenth

Case 6:83-cv-01041-KWR-JHR Document 4462 Filed 03/01/22 Page 2 of 4

Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the Court's determination regarding that threshold issue.
The Court ordered the Parties to file briefs regarding the schedule for addressing the
remaining issues in this case. See Doc. 4441, filed June 2, 2021. The Pueblos of Jemez and Zia,
the United States, the State of New Mexico and the Jemez River Basin Water Users Coalition
("Coalition") stated they had been in settlement negotiations for several years and have achieved
substantial progress. They also stated they believe it would be counterproductive to settlement
efforts to prepare legal briefs during negotiations and expect that they can complete a settlement
document by early 2022 for submission to New Mexico's Congressional delegation for
introduction in the first half of 2022. Given the time and effort the Parties have invested in
settlement negotiations, and their expectation that they can complete a draft settlement agreement
in early 2022, the Court found that a short stay of litigation to avoid disrupting the settlement
negotiations was warranted and stayed litigation until February 22, 2022, with initial briefs
addressing threshold Issues Nos. 1 and 2 due on March 1, 2022.
The Settlement Parties (the Pueblo of Jemez, the Pueblo of Zia, the United States, the State
of New Mexico and the Coalition) now seek a three-month extension of the stay stating:
several sections of the settlement agreement are in final or near-final form ...
counsel and technical staff for the Settlement Parties are meeting several times a
week to finalize other parts of the agreement with the goal of presenting the
settlement agreement for their clients' approval this spring followed by submission
of federal legislation to Congress for approval of the settlement no later than this
fall. The Settlement Parties fear they will not meet that goal if required to redirect
those resources to briefing or other litigation on the threshold legal issues ... If a
settlement agreement is reached Jemez and Zia's water rights claims will be fully
resolved, leaving only the claims of Santa Ana to be determined in a simpler
proceeding, potentially reducing the burden on the Court and the remaining parties
to the litigation.
Motion at 5.
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The Pueblo of Santa Ana opposes a new extension of the stay of litigation stating:
it is and will continue to be prejudiced by the continued delays in resuming this
litigation ... what remained was for this Court to decide whether, on the basis of the
record before it and in light of the 10th Circuit ruling, there was any action of the
Mexican government, or of the United States government, that could be said to have
extinguished the Pueblos' aboriginal water rights. (The Court could also consider
Issue No. 2 ... If no action by Mexico or the United States could be identified ...
then the Court would presumably move to Issue No. 3 ...That issue was extensively
briefed in 2013, but the Court might want further briefing. But once Issue No. 3
is decided the case would be ready to move toward trials of what water rights each
Pueblo has ... While Jemez and Zia Pueblos seem satisfied with the water rights
that they would be allocated under the terms of the settlement, Santa Ana was
allowed only a very small allocation of water, far less than it felt it was entitled to.
But because there was no definitive ruling on the water rights of the Pueblos, Santa
Ana had no leverage to enable it to bargain for a higher allocation. That was the
basis for its decision to continue to pursue the litigation, in hopes that ultimately
favorable rulings on the issues ... would enable it to return to the settlement
negotiations, and insist on better settlement terms.
Doc. 4456 at 1-4.
Requiring the Settlement Parties, who are meeting several times a week, to return to
litigation will affect their ability to finalize the settlement agreement this spring.

Staying

litigation may conserve judicial resources and the resources of the Settlement Parties who have
invested substantial resources in the settlement and indicated the draft settlement agreement may
be completed this spring. While the Pueblo of Santa Ana may be prejudiced by a three-month
extension of the stay, because rulings on the issues of the Pueblo's water rights may be delayed by
a stay, the prejudice resulting from the relatively short delay is outweighed by the prejudice to the
five Settlement Parties if litigation is not stayed.
IT IS ORDERED that the Expedited Joint Motion to Amend Scheduling Order,
Doc. 4453, filed February 10, 2022, is GRANTED.

The Court extends the current stay of

litigation in this case until June 1, 2022. The Court resets the March 1, 2022, deadline for the
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Pueblos of Jemez, Zia and Santa Ana, and the United States to file their initial briefs to June 8,
2022, with responses due on August 8, 2022, and replies due on September 7, 2022. No additional
extensions of the stay of litigation will be granted absent extraordinary circumstances.
IT IS SO ORDERED.

KEA W. RIGGS
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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