In a case that is both remarkable and routine, the Seventh Circuit has ordered an energy company to remove a pipeline that traverses lands allotted to tribal members once the easement expires. Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians of the Bad River Reservation, 184 F.4th 874 (7th Cir. 2026)
In one sense, the case is a routine application of longstanding law that easements are limited uses of the property of another and when an easement has a time limit, the expiration of the allotted time automatically ends rights under the easement. Since the rights under the easement have terminated, further intrusion on the underlying land is a trespass that can be remedied by ejectment.
In another sense, the case is notable for treating tribal allotments (which are generally subject to a restraint on alienation) as property that is equally entitled to protection from trespass as non-Native property. The fact that the United States expanded by taking tribal lands and that energy and road easements have often been imposed on tribes does not justify, in this day and age, ignoring tribal property rights (including property owned by individual tribal members as allotments), even when this has large and expensive consequences for easement owners whose rights have expired.
Allotments were created at various times in US history but especially after the Dawes Act of 1887 authorized the United States to seize tribal lands, divide them up, and “allot” parcels to individual tribal members. Like the tribes’ interest in its own property, the allotments were (and often are today) subject to a restraint on alienation, making them inalienable without the consent of the United States acting through the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Allotments are “recognized” property rights which cannot be taken by the United States without just compensation. See Babbitt v. Youpee, 519 U.S. 234 (1997).
While federal law may deny allottees the right to manage their own property (since inheritance may mean dozens or hundreds of owners with resulting difficulties of self-management), that does not mean that allotments are not property rights protected by trespass law.