Couple sues Nez Perce over property line charge

LEWISTON (AP) — A northern Idaho couple claims the Nez Perce Tribe is wrong in attempting to reclaim property that has been in their family’s possession for more than a century, according to a federal lawsuit.

LeRoy and Katherine Howell filed the complaint lawsuit Tuesday against the tribe and the head of the U.S. Department of Interior.

According to the lawsuit, the couple alleges the federal government conducted a land survey in 2005 that usurped five tracts of property the Howells have claimed since 1895. They want a federal judge to declare the survey invalid and grant them a title to the land.

The property line runs through land where the couple owns and operates a quarrying operation, wrecking yard and heavy equipment service.

“The big thing is that the line that (the tribe) wants to establish runs right through the middle of (the Howells’) shop, their business premises,” said Boise attorney David P. Claiborne, who is representing the Howells.

An official with the Nez Perce Tribe said the land is held in trust for the tribe by the U.S. government.

“The Howells have not served the Tribe with their pleadings,” said Larry Green, Jr., the vice chairman of the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee. “But when they do, the Tribe will continue to maintain this position and expects that the United States will do the same.”

Claiborne believes the lawsuit might be the first land dispute on the Nez Perce Reservation that has resulted from modern surveying techniques used to set property boundaries. The newer surveying techniques contradict older methods used to determine property lines, according to the lawsuit.

“It really comes down to, are we going to let modern surveying techniques trump the more ancient techniques that everybody’s relied on for over a century now,” Claiborne told the Lewiston Tribune (http://bit.ly/vPX9Wq ).

The land was originally surveyed in 1892 and set the boundaries for the property the Howells have claimed since the reservation was opened to nontribal settlement in 1895. The 2005 survey that gave the land back to the tribe was not done properly, the couple claims. 

“No part of the Howell property constitutes land held in trust by the United States of America as Indian land,” the lawsuit claims, “nor does any part of the Howell property constitute restricted Indian lands.”

Court hearings in the case are expected to be scheduled after the tribe and other entities named in lawsuit are served with notice of the legal action being taken. That process could take a couple weeks, Claiborne said.

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Information from: Lewiston Tribune, http://www.lmtribune.com