Plaintiffs ask Navajo Supreme Court to tell tribal courts to ignore 10th Circuit ruling
Posted: 12:33 PM- Federal appeals court judges have said a Navajo tribal court can't force the San Juan County-owned Montezuma Creek Clinic to rehire employees who alleged they were wrongfully terminated.
But three former employees won't take no for an answer.
In March, they asked the Navajo Supreme Court to instruct tribal courts to ignore that ruling from the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals -- and to order the clinic to pay fines totaling more than $26 million. In addition, the ex-workers want their former employer to pay their attorneys' fees for the past nine years.
The case began with allegations that the health clinic had wrongfully fired employees and was denying service to Navajo patients.
Fifteen plaintiffs went to a tribal court, where a judge in 1999 ordered the clinic to rehire the workers and correct the alleged discrimination. The judge later tried to impose a fine of $10,000 for each day his orders were not carried out.
The next year, the employees sued state and county officials in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City to enforce the tribal order. Their effort was rejected there and at the Denver-based 10th Circuit.
In an April 21 court filing, Susan Rose, an attorney for the employees, has also asked U.S. District Judge Bruce Jenkins to reconsider his earlier dismissal of the lawsuit. She said that dismissal left her clients with nowhere to go to enforce their rights.
Lawyers for San Juan County have asked Jenkins to stop any attempt to enforce the tribal order and to impose sanctions on Rose. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Monday before Jenkins.