United States v. Hatahley: A Legal Archaeology Case Study in Law and Racial Conflict
101 Pages Posted: 6 Jan 2010
Date Written: 2008
Abstract
In this case study, the author examines the ways in which race affects the progress and outcome of litigation under the Federal Tort Claims Act. The litigation is brought by individual Navajo plaintiffs against the federal government for the destruction of over a hundred horses and burros. The background conflict over access to public land is laid out, and then the article looks at the difficulty in assessing damages, the impact of the litigation on the underlying land claims, and the question of judicial bias.
Keywords: Federal Tort Claims Act, civil procedure, remedies, damages, mandamus, Bureau of Land Management, public lands, grazing, Taylor Grazing Act, Native American rights, racial prejudice, Navajo, Native American land claims, idiosyncratic value, judicial impartiality, judicial bias
JEL Classification: A13, J70, J71, K10, K11, K13, K19, K32, K41, N51, N52, Q15, Q24, Q28
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation