Taradash, Alan R.

Admitted to Bar: 1970, Illinois; 1971, Arizona; 1972, New Mexico, U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit and U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico; 1974, U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit; 1976, U.S. Supreme Court; 1979, U.S. Claims Court (United States Court of Federal Claims); 1980 Navajo Nation; 1982, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Education: Ohio University (B.A. 1965); John Marshall Law School (J.D., cum laude, 1970); Member, Order of John Marshall (Academic Honors Society), full law school scholarship recipient awarded for academic excellence (three years); Associate Editor, John Marshall Law Review, 1969-1970. Author: Multi-State Defamation and the Long Arm, John Marshall Journal of Practice and Procedure (1969); Valuation of Oil and Gas for Royalty Purposes for Indian Tribes and Allottees: Lease Provisions in Indian Leases Giving Rise to Controversies, Petroleum Accounting and Financial Management Journal, Institute of Petroleum Accounting, Vol. 16, No. 3 (1997); Bureau of Land Management and the United States Trust Responsibilities Regarding Indian Trust Assets: The View From Here paper delivered at BLM training, Phoenix, AZ, December 1997; Indian Energy Development History paper delivered at Council of Energy Resource Tribes' conference on Electric Deregulation and Indian Tribes, Oklahoma City, OK, September 1998; Natural Resource Royalty Management and Accounting: Special Issues Associated with Valuation and Royalty Accounting For Production From Indian Lands, Past, Current, And Proposed Oil And Gas Valuation Regulations, Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, Natural Resources Development and Environmental Regulation in Indian Country, Mineral Law Series, Vol. 1999, No. 3. Judicially selected panelist at the 20^th Judicial Conference of the United States Court of Federal Claims, October 10 &11, 2007 (University of Colorado School of Law, Boulder, Colorado) presenting the Indian side of the issues in "Tribal Claims Against the United States: Litigating Tribal Trust Claims."

Member: State Bars of Arizona, New Mexico, and Illinois; American Bar Association and Federal Bar Association; Minerals Management Service Advisory Board, Royalty Policy Committee, Department of Interior (May 2001 to 2003); Oxford Round Table (Civil Rights and Discrimination in Employment), Oxford University, Oxford, England (2001); Royalty Policy Committee, Chair, Subcommittee on Appeals, Minerals Management Services, Department of Interior (1995-1996); Negotiated Rulemaking Committee, Indian Gas Valuation, Minerals Management Service, Department of Interior (1994-1996); Royalty Management Advisory Committee, Minerals Management Service, Department of Interior (1993-1994); Commissioner, Navajo Nation Board of Bar Commissioners (1991-1993); Past President of the New Mexico Amateur Hockey Association (1989-1992); Trial Skills Instructor, Reginald Heber Smith Community Lawyer Fellowship Program, Howard University School of Law (1979-1982); Past President of McKinley County (New Mexico) Bar Association (1975); Peace Corps Volunteer, Bombay, India, UCD XXIII (1965-1967). Legal Advisor to Registrants, Local Board No. 1, Selective Service Systems (1971-76).

Employment: After working as a legal services attorney at DNA-Peoples Legal Services, Inc., from 1970-76, I served as Deputy Director of Economic Development of the Navajo Nation (1976-1978) where I was responsible for physical infrastructure planning, housing planning and development, energy resource planning and development, commercial, industrial, and tourism planning and development. Actual projects planned, funded and constructed include community housing, several shopping centers, tourist facilities, office buildings, agricultural plant facilities and headquarters, water and sewer systems, judicial buildings, training and technical skill centers, and community-based recreational facilities. Numerous other projects included the planning and development of a complete tribal minerals department and systems to manage coal, oil and gas, uranium, sand and gravel, etc. I also planned and conducted complex negotiations on mineral resource projects involving representatives from several foreign countries as well as domestic utilities and energy companies in all areas of tribal minerals.

As the Director of Litigation of the largest Indian legal services program in the country (DNA-People's Legal Services, Inc., Window Rock, AZ)(1978-1983), I was responsible for the hiring, training, and supervision of all program lawyers (33) in eight different offices in Arizona, Utah and New Mexico, on the Navajo, Hopi, White Mountain Apache Indian Reservations and in nearby border towns. Responsibilities included litigation design, strategy and implementation of a number of successful, highly complex and significant cases involving tribal treaty rights, civil rights, housing and lending practices (redlining litigation), consumer and commercial laws and mineral and environmental laws. Previously I had served as a staff attorney in that same legal services program serving mainly Navajos, Zunis and Hopis from 1970-1976.

After joining the Nordhaus Law Firm as a Senior Associate in Albuquerque in 1983, I became a partner in 1984. My practice involves treaty litigation, natural resource litigation, complex litigation, administrative matters, housing development, construction law, and Indian gaming matters. For example, on behalf of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, I took over as lead counsel, in the United States Court of Federal Claims in 1993 in a highly complex case formerly pending before the Indian Claims Commission and then the Court of Claims for over forty years. The case involved financial trust matters and related trust assets involving millions of acres of land and timber. Along with others working with me on the case we were able to bring the claims in that case to two judgments resulting in two of the highest Indian Claims Commission Act judgments ever entered for a single tribe.

During the last two decades my legal practice has focused mainly, but not exclusively, on enforcement of tribal financial, trust, and trust assets management issues as well as individual Indian allottee oil and gas lease enforcement rights, related financial issues, and tribal claims against the United States due to trustee mismanagement of financial, land, minerals, and timber assets. Those efforts have been highly successful resulting in the annual recovery for clients of millions of dollars in under-paid and unpaid royalties and other sums properly due from these trust resources.

Current cases pending in the United States Court of Federal Claims where I am attorney of record involving issues of mismanagement of trust funds and other trust assets include: The Delaware Tribe of Indians v. United States, Case No. 02-26L; Pueblo of Laguna v. United States, Case No. 02-24L; Jicarilla Apache Nation v. United States, Case No. 02-25L; and Navajo Nation v. United States, Case No. 06-945.

Representative class action cases in which I was either co-counsel or lead counsel include:

Natonabah v. Board of Education of McKinley County School District , 355 F. Supp. 716 (D.N.M. 1973) (Hon. Howard Bratton). A class action lawsuit alleging illegal discrimination and improper school expenditures of federal money intended for Indian Education. Judgment entered for Plaintiffs and Court superintendent jurisdiction for approximately five years to implement court ordered changes.

Begay v. Standard Oil Company , McKinley County District Court, N.M. (circa 1972-3) (Hon. Frank B. Zinn). A class action defamation lawsuit against a major oil and gas company and a local distributor/store alleging group defamation from billboards along Interstate 40 that defamed all Indians in the area. After a ruling in favor of Plaintiffs on Defendants' motion to dismiss, the Defendants, with concurrence of the court and Plaintiffs, settled the case by the removal of the offensive billboards.

Yazzie v. Navajo Shopping Center , (D.N.M.) (circa 1974-6) (Judge Edwin Mechem). This was a class action under the Truth in Lending Act and Regulation Z. A judgment was entered for the Plaintiffs and there were three monetary distributions to the members of the class of slightly under 10,000 members, seriatim.

Nelson v. Great Western Bank , (D. Ariz.) (circa 1979-81). This was a class action alleging illegal redlining practices by the bank which had a monopoly on the Arizona part of the Navajo Reservation. A consent decree was entered implementing the relief Plaintiffs sought and retaining court supervision over implementation of parts of the consent decree.

O'Neal v. Amoco Production Co. , No. 83-0432 (D. Wyo. 1983). A class action of all allottees on the Wind River Reservation alleging oil theft by the Defendant Amoco and trustee liability against the United States due to its failure to properly manage the trust property, viz., the oil and gas assets and the money due from their use and disposition. A settlement agreement was arrived at of a significant cash settlement from Amoco and an increase in the royalty rate over the life of production from the leases.

Shii Shi Keyah Association v. Hodel , No. Civ-84-1622M (D.N.M. 1984) (Hon. E.L. Mechem). A class action on behalf of all Navajo allottees with oil and gas leases on their lands alleging that the Secretary of Interior was not in compliance with the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982. A consent decree was entered in March of 1989 requiring numerous changes on the part of the Secretary to bring the Secretary into compliance with FOGRMA. This was after several key summary judgment rulings in Plaintiff's favor on interpretations of key provision of FOGRMA. An award was also entered for the Plaintiff under the Equal Access to Justice Act which was, at that time, one of the largest such awards yet to be entered. The court retained superintendent jurisdiction over implementation of the consent decree for five years.

Red Lake Band of Indians v. United States , Docket Nos. 189-A, -B, -C (U.S. Ct. of Fed. Claims). This case, while not a class action per se, for all practical purposes is treated like a class action, especially with respect to any resolution and the Use or Distribution requirements of 25 U.S.C. Secs. 1401, et seq. The case involved very complex land, timber and financial accounting issues. The case was successful resulting in two judgments entered for Plaintiff: One in 1997 in the amount of $27,105,000.00 and the other entered in 2001 in the amount of $53,500,000.00.

Jake C. Pelt, et al. v. State of Utah , Docket No. 2:920CV-639 C (U.S. District Court). Co-Counsel, A Class Action on behalf of all Navajos residing in the State of Utah. This lawsuit, filed in 1992, against the State of Utah asks the State to account for income and expenses of the Navajo Trust Fund for the Navajo beneficiaries.