Bladh, Wayne H.

From 1974 to 1982, Mr. Bladh was employed at DNA-People's Legal Services, Inc. in Window Rock, Arizona, on the Navajo Reservation, in capacities of staff attorney, agency office managing attorney, and Law Reform Unit attorney. Mr. Bladh specialized in consumer-related commercial law, and federal Indian law issues of State regulatory and tax jurisdiction within the Navajo Reservation. Cases litigated include: Battese v. Apache County, 129 Ariz. 295, 630 P.2d 1027 (1981), barring State and County taxation of Indian-owned fee land within the reservation; and Begay v. Albers, 721 F.2d 1274 (10th Cir. 1983), successfully invalidating a forged deed for allotted Indian lands approximately 34 years after the forgery. His practice also included administrative proceedings before the Social Security Administration, Interior Board of Indian Appeals, Interior Board of Land Appeals, and various State agencies in Arizona and New Mexico, in addition to federal and state courts.

From 1982 to 1985, Mr. Bladh was an Assistant Attorney General for the State of New Mexico in Santa Fe, New Mexico, working in the Consumer Protection Division. Mr. Bladh specialized in enforcement of the Unfair Trade Practices Act, and participated in complex federal anti-trust litigation. Cases litigated include State ex rel. Stratton v. Gurley Motors Co., 105 N.M. 803, 737 P.2d 1180 (Ct. App. 1987), cert. denied, 105 N.M. 781, 737 P.2d 893 (1987), holding that the unfair trade practices act applies to the sale of motor vehicle insurance.

From 1985 to 1987, Mr. Bladh was a Special Assistant Attorney General in the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Mr. Bladh specialized in enforcement and administration of the state corporate income tax and the state gross receipts tax. His practice included administrative hearings within the Department on protests of tax assessments and on proposed regulations, appellate proceedings in the New Mexico Court of Appeals, the development of departmental manuals and procedures for processing corporate income tax collection, and training department personnel.

Mr. Bladh has been with the Nordhaus firm since 1987 and became partner in 1988. Mr. Bladh established the firm's Santa Fe office and handles much of the firm's lobbying and government liaison functions at the state level. His practice has focused on jurisdictional and tax policy issues governing state and Tribal taxation of activity on Indian lands.  This work has included establishing and litigating the validity of Tribal tax programs, litigation in State and Federal courts to bar State taxation on Indian land, lobbying the New Mexico Legislature for the enactment of tax credits to avoid double taxation on Indian land, and structuring investments by Tribal entities to maximize available tax benefits.  His practice since 1987 has included the negotiation of numerous oil and gas leases, joint venture agreements, and production payment financing arrangements on behalf of one of the largest natural gas producing tribes in the United States. He has also practiced extensively in the area of tribal and state taxation of on-reservation businesses, and the application of federal Indian law preemption to various efforts by state governments to regulate activity within Indian reservation lands. He has drafted and successfully negotiated the enactment of several bills in the New Mexico Legislature establishing tax credits for oil and gas production on Indian tribal land.

Cases litigated include: Jicarilla Apache Tribe v. New Mexico, 742 F. Supp. 1487 (D.N.M. 1990), upholding the regulatory authority of Tribe's fish and game program against a challenge by the State of New Mexico and confirming the authority of tribes in New Mexico to add lands to their reservations under the Indian Reorganization Act: New Mexico Tax'n & Rev. Dep't v. Laguna Industries, Inc., 855 P.2d 127 (N.M. 1993), barring state taxation of services performed by non-Indians for Indian entities within Indian country.