California tribe sues Riverside County over…
That received’t fly.
A California native tribe is accusing Riverside County of fraud and racial discrimination after the county handed a law barring them from negotiating access to an airport next to its property, according to a lawsuit obtained by Law360.
In a lawsuit filed Monday, the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians declare that after they spent $12 million to buy 612 acres of land adjoining the Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport in Thermal, Calif., Riverside County sneakily handed a decision blocking them from getting into into a Through-the Fence (TTF) settlement with the airport.
The Twenty Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians say Riverside county discriminated against them in their bid to broker an settlement that would permit them to taxi planes onto a county-owned airport. Destination Native America
A TTF settlement permits non-public property house owners to taxi aircrafts from their land and onto a close by airport’s runaways.
The tribe says the Riverside County Board of Supervisors adopted the law, Resolution No. 2025-230, “on rushed notice” in August 2025. They also say the decision doesn’t comply with Federal Aviation Administration insurance policies.
The go well with also says the airport supplies other teams — just like the H.N. and Frances C. Berger Foundation — access to the airport, but denies the tribe the same alternatives.
“The result is a government-engineered bait-and-switch that strips the tribe of the access opportunity that justified the purchase, not to serve any FAA mandate, but to needlessly advantage incumbent airport tenants,” the Twenty-Nine Palms Band said in the go well with.
The tribe says the county handed a decision that blocked it from negotiating a Through-the-Fence settlement. Jacqueline Cochran airport
The six-count go well with accuses the county and its board of fraudulent inducement, regulatory taking, racial discrimination in contract, equal safety, substantive due course of and fraud violations.
“The county discriminated against the tribe in contracting, denied equal protection by treating the tribe worse than a similarly situated private through-the-fence user without any rational basis, and deprived the tribe of substantive due process through arbitrary, irrational, and conscience-shocking action,” the lawsuit read.
The tribe says it tried to negotiate a TTF settlement with the county for more than a yr after buying the property, proposing a three-party settlement among the county, the tribe and 29 Aviation LLC, a Twenty-Nine Palms Band constitution company, for industrial TTF access.
The tribe is accusing the county and its board of fraudulent inducement, regulatory taking, racial discrimination in contract, equal safety, substantive due course of and fraud violations. Jacqueline Cochran airport
After the county handed the decision, the Berger Foundation voiced opposition to the law, and its considerations had been heard, highlighting the county’s means to negotiate.
“That warning prompted county staff to acknowledge the overbreadth of the proposed language,” the tribe said.
“The Berger TTF showed that access from adjacent property could be managed through negotiated restrictions, fee structures, and county control; and the Berger Foundation’s opposition put the county on notice that the proposed resolution was sweeping and threatened existing access rights as well as the tribe’s proposed FAA-compliant path,” the lawsuit said.
The tribe is requesting the court terminate the TTF decision, return the $12 million buy price and misplaced development worth and present compensation for the regulatory taking, as effectively as attorney charges.
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