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Law360 (September 29, 2020, 8:23 PM EDT) -- A Florida federal judge will send the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians' suit claiming it was denied a fair portion of CARES Act relief funds to the judge in Washington, D.C., who has handled six related suits and dismissed a nearly identical one earlier this month.
In a phone hearing Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams said she would transfer the Miccosukee Tribes' suit against the U.S. Department of the Treasury to U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington, D.C., who has already presided over several suits challenging the disbursement of the $8 billion in direct aid to tribes under Title V of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.
"I think that for the purposes of not only judicial economy but regularity, this is a matter that should be transferred to Judge Mehta," Judge Williams said.
The judge said the tribe's request for a preliminary injunction setting aside $2 million in CARES Act funds is mooted by the transfer.
"I don't even know that it's appropriately taken up at this time, certainly not on an expedited basis," Judge Williams said.
The Miccosukee Tribe is challenging the federal government's population-based formula that was used to distribute 60%, or $4.8 billion, of the CARES Act Title V funds to tribal governments. The formula — which relied on Indian Housing Block Grant population data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — set the tribe's population at zero, even though its members numbered 605 at the time, according to the complaint.
The Miccosukee Tribe received just $100,000, which was the minimum distribution assigned to the smallest tribes with fewer than 37 members, according to the suit.
The tribe says the formula was "demonstrably incorrect," and the Treasury Department's reliance on the incorrect data was "arbitrary and capricious."
Now its claims will be before the same judge who earlier this month dismissed an identical suit from the Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, which also received the minimum $100,000 payment. The tribe said it has more than 2,113 citizens and should have received at least $6 million.
On Sept. 11, Judge Mehta ruled that the allocation is not reviewable under the Administrative Procedure Act. The text of Title V states that "the amount paid … to a tribal government shall be … determined in such manner as the secretary determines appropriate."
"Title V cannot be reasonably read to place any restriction on how the secretary must allocate the $8 billion to achieve that goal," Judge Mehta said.
Representatives for the parties did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.
The Miccosukee Tribe is represented by George B. Abney, Daniel F. Diffley and Daniel G. Jarcho of Alston & Bird LLP.
The government is represented by Jason C. Lynch of the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Division.
The case is Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida v. U.S. Department of the Treasury et al., case number 1:20-cv-23182, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
--Additional reporting by Emma Whitford. Editing by Haylee Pearl.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
