California Rancheria termination litigation[edit]

In 1979, on the basis that termination was illegal since the improvements had not been done, Hardwick filed suit with the assistance of California Indian Legal Services, who decided to make the case a class action.^[6] In a decision dated 19 July 1983 a US District Court restored the status of 17 California rancherias:^[7][8]

• Big Valley

  Blue Lake

  Buena Vista

  Chicken Ranch

  Cloverdle

  Elk Valley

  Greenville

  Mooretown

  North Fork

  Picayune

  Pinoleville

  Potter Valley

  Quartz Valley

  Redding

  Redwood Valley

  Rhonerville

  Smith River

The United States agreed to restore the status of the individual members of the Rancherias as Indians and acknowledged that the federal government would recognize as Indian entities the "Indian Tribes, Bands, Communities or groups" of these 17 Rancherias with the same status as they possessed prior to termination. The United States also agreed that tribal members could elect to restore their fee simple lands which had been former trust allotments to trust status, to be held by the United States for their benefit. The first Hardwick decision (Tillie Hardwick, et al. v. United States of America, et al. Case #C-79-1710-SW) did not determine whether or to what extent the boundaries of the 17 Rancherias were restored,^[9] but it did establish the basis on which the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) was to ensure that those who formed the initial tribal governments and re-organized them were the individuals who properly had the right to do so.^[10]