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Judge Rejects Contempt Motion in Coal Lawsuit


Washington, D.C.—U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Lawrence Baskir has
issued a ruling rejecting the motion by Peabody Coal Company (and its
affiliate companies) to hold the Navajo Nation and its counsel in violation
of a confidentiality and protective order (CAPO) issued by that Court, under
which the Nation had obtained documents demonstrating wrongdoing by Peabody.
The documents were provided to the Navajo Nation during discovery in its case
against the United States arising from the approval of coal lease amendments
between the Navajo Nation and Peabody.
Judge Baskir recounted, in the course of his opinion, the delaying
tactics used by Peabody to resist turning over documents to both the U.S.
Government and the Navajo Nation in the Claims Court litigation. Among those
documents was what the judge characterized as an “incriminating memorandum”
that described Peabody’s hiring a close personal friend of Interior Secretary
Donald Hodel to intervene secretly with Hodel on Peabody’s behalf.
The Navajo Nation’s counsel acknowledged that this “incriminating
memorandum” had been used in the sealed complaint filed by the Nation against
Peabody and other defendants in February 1999, seeking damages arising out of
the coal lease amendment activities.
Peabody argued that the use of this document violated the Court of
Federal Claims CAPO. Peabody had also unsuccessfully sought dismissal of the
Navajo Nation’s private litigation against it on this same theory. Finding
that, while the “status” of this “incriminating memorandum” under the CAPO
was “anomalous,” any claim of privilege attached to it had been abandoned or
waived by Peabody, the Court held that, in any event, the Navajo Nation had
“substantially complied” with the CAPO.
Navajo Nation Attorney General Levon B. Henry observed: “This latest
ruling vindicates the Nation against charges that it violated a court order.
It keeps our damage action against Peabody Coal Company and other
codefendants on target, since the Court found that our actions in that case
did not violate the CAPO. And it once again chronicles...Peabody Coal
Company’s efforts to keep the Navajo Nation from learning about and
redressing Peabody’s violations of our rights.”

The February 27, 2000 opinion of the Court of Federal Claims on the issue of
liability of the U.S. Government can be found at
http://www.contracts.ogc.doc.gov/fedcl/opinions/2000opin/93-763L.html

The March 31, 2000 opinion of the Court of Federal Claims on the issue of
contempt and asserted violation of the CAPO can be found at
http://www.contracts.ogc.doc.gov/fedcl/opinions/2000opin/93-763L-I.html

© 2000 All original content © copyright Verde Valley Newspapers, Inc.