The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled in favor of Leisnoi Inc., Monday, in the case of Stratman v. Leisnoi, effectively ending the nearly 30-year-old lawsuit.

The administrative procedure act or decertification case, in which Chiniak rancher Omar Stratman challenged Leisnoi’s status as a Native village under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, dates back to 1976.

“It’s a dark day for us in this litigation,” Stratman’s attorney Michael Schneider said. “I’m very frankly surprised and disappointed at the outcome.”

Schneider said that since 1976, Stratman has “labored to prove, and seek a remedy for, a fact we now all know: There was no ANCSA ‘Native village’ on Woody Island in April of 1971, the ANCSA qualifying date. He has had to face the U.S. government and a multi-million dollar defense effort by Koniag and Leisnoi, and he won’t quit until it’s over.”

Schneider said Stratman “won on the merits of whether or not there was a village there, but Leisnoi has been able to extract a technicality to their advantage.”

In the decision, judge A. Wallace Tashima wrote, “Nearly thirty years have now passed since the enactment of (the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980) and it is time to bring this litigation to an end. We hold that (section 1427 of ANILCA) ratified the eligibility determination that Stratman seeks to challenge, leaving us unable to grant Stratman’s requested relief under ANCSA regardless of the merits of his claims.”

The U.S. originally granted Leisnoi the land it now owns on Woody Island and Kodiak because Leisnoi was determined by the secretary of the Interior to be a village under ANCSA, and thus entitled to land and other benefits.

In 1999, a judge ruled that Leisnoi was not entitled to village status under any theory. The Interior Board of Land Appeals upheld that decision in 2002, Schneider said.

In 2006, the secretary of the Interior found that Congress had recognized Leisnoi’s legitimacy by mentioning Leisnoi in parts of ANILCA.

And in September 2007, the Federal District Court for the District of Alaska affirmed the secretary’s holding.

Oral arguments in Stratman’s appeal before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Anchorage took place Aug. 6, 2008.

“It’s been a case where there’s been just a huge amount of political and legal inertia,” Schneider said.

Schneider described his and Stratman’s mood before the decision was issued as “very optimistic” about the pending appeal.

“If Mr. Stratman wins this appeal, the case will be returned to the Federal District Court for the District of Alaska, and we predict Leisnoi’s lands will soon thereafter be returned to the United States of America,” Schneider said at the time.

Stratman and his attorneys are now left with three options: Ask the 9th Circuit to reconsider the matter en banc, meaning all the judges on the 9th Circuit hear the case, not just the usual three-judge panel, take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court or accept the decision and end the case.

If Stratman chooses not to appeal to the 9th Circuit or the Supreme Court, the case comes to an end and Leisnoi keeps the land.

“You can only go so far, and this may be it. I just don’t know,” he said. “It’s been a long, very, very tough fight. We lost this round, and whether that’s the end of the fight or the end of the round is yet to be determined.”

Stratman could not be reached for comment, and calls to Leisnoi were not returned.

Mirror writer Erik Wander can be reached via e-mail at ewander@kodiakdailymirror.com.