Legal Case Work

Table of Case Work

Case Work
Dam Replacement . Expert consultant on cultural resources for a proposed dam replacement project in Santa Clara County, California. Contracted with Soluri Meserve, Sacramento, CA.
Energy Transfer LP, Energy Transfer Operating, L.P., and Dakota Access, LLC v. Greenpeace International, Greenpeace Fund, Inc., Red Warrior Society, Cody Hall, Krystal Two Bulls, and Charles Brown; Case No. 30-2019-CV-00180; State of North Dakota District Court. Expert consultant for the plaintiff in a civil investigation regarding defamation and cultural resources. Contracted with Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP, New York, NY and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Houston, TX.
United States of America v. Avista Utilities. Expert consultant for a civil case investigation into archaeological site damage on National Park Service land in Washington State. Contracted with the U.S. Department of Justice.
San Carlos Apache Tribe v. United States of America; Case pending in U.S. District Court for Arizona. Expert for the plaintiff tribe in a case involving alleged noncompliance with the U.S. National Environmental Policy Act on the part of the U.S. Forest Service. Contracted with San Carlos Apache Tribe. See J.R. Welch (2021) “Earth, Wind, and Fire: Pinal Apaches, Miners, and Genocide in Central Arizona, 1859-1874,” Sage Open (October-December):1-19. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2158244017747016
Long Beach Unified School District v. Santa Catalina Island Company and City of Avalon; Case No. 2:19-CV-01139-JFW-AS; U.S. District Court, Central District of California. Expert witness for the defense in a civil case. Provided an opinion on the origin and timing of the deposition of archaeological materials in Avalon, California. Contracted with Cooksey, Toolen, Gage, Duffy & Woog, Costa Mesa, CA, Best Best & Krieger, Los Angeles, CA, and Booth LLP, Los Angeles, CA.
White Mountain Apache Tribe v. United States of America; Case Number 537 U.S. 465; U.S. Supreme Court. Expert for the plaintiff tribe in a case involving failure on the part of the U.S. to maintain the Fort Apache and Theodore Roosevelt School National Register Historic District (now National Historic Landmark) as a prudent fiduciary. Service provided as member of plaintiff staff (Tribal Historic Preservation Officer). See .J.R. Welch and Robert C. Brauchli (2010) “"Subject to the Right of the Secretary of the Interior": The White Mountain Apache Reclamation of the Fort Apache and Theodore Roosevelt School Historic District,” Wicazo Sa Review 25(1):47–73. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40891309
Confidential; U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana. Expert witness for the defense in a civil case. Provided an opinion on the value of cultural resource compliance reports in Louisiana. Contracted with Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson LLP, Baton Rouge, LA.
Apache Stronghold v. United States of America; Case Number 21-15295; U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Expert for the plaintiff nonprofit organization involving alleged infringement on free religious practice and treaty rights on the part of the U.S. Forest Service. Under contract with Apache Stronghold. See Welch, John R. (2021) ““United States shall so legislate and act as to secure the permanent prosperity and happiness of said Indians”: Policy Implications of the Apache Nation’s 1852 Treaty,” International Indigenous Policy Journal 12(4). https://doi.org/10.18584/iipj.2021.12.4.14181
San Carlos Apache Tribe v. Arizona Department of Water Quality; Case Number LC2019-000264-001; Arizona Court of Appeals. Expert for the plaintiff tribe in a case involving alleged noncompliance with the U.S. Clean Water Act on the part of the State of Arizona U.S. Forest Service. Contracted with San Carlos Apache Tribe.
James W. Fowler Co. v. QBE Insurance Corporation; Case Number 3:18-CV-01705-SI; U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon. Expert witness for the defense in a civil case. Provided an opinion on cultural resource compliance on federal land in North Dakota. Contracted with Dunn Carney LLP, Portland, OR.
HDR Environmental , Operations, and Construction, Inc. v. Darwin Deason and DOES 1-100 inclusive; Case Number 3:15-cv-01402-JAH-NLS; U.S. District Court, Southern District of California. Expert witness for the plaintiff/counter defendant in a civil case focused on the performance of archaeologists on a construction project in San Diego, CA. Contracted with Balestreri Potocki & Holmes, San Diego, CA.
U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs. Expert consultant hired to review a series of archaeological damage assessment and valuation reports prepared by the BIA in the Western and Pacific Regions. Contracted with Archaeology Southwest, Tucson, AZ.
U.S. v. Norman Starks; Case Number 1:15-CR-0044-LJO-SKO; U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California. Expert consultant/witness for the defense in a criminal case involving the damage to and removal of archaeological resources from federal land under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in California. Contracted with the Law Offices of Matthew Emrick, Rocklin, CA.
U.S. v. David Tudor; Case Number 2:16CR20036-001; U.S. District Court, Western District of Arkansas. Expert consultant for the defense in a criminal case involving the damage to and removal of archaeological resources from federal land under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Forest Service in Arkansas. Contracted with Settle Jernigan Attorneys at Law, PLLC, Van Buren, AR.
Quechan Indian Tribe v. United States of America; Case Number 02cv1096-JAH(AJB); U.S. District Court, Southern District of California. Expert witness for the United States in a civil case involving damage to prehistoric archaeological resources near Yuma, AZ. Contracted with the U.S. Department of Justice, Los Angeles.
U.S. v. Jonathan Cornelius Bourne; Case Number 1:15cr00253 LJO SKD; U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California. Expert consultant for the defense in a criminal case involving the removal of archaeological resources from federal lands under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service in California and Nevada. Contracted with Wanger Jones Helsley PC, Fresno, CA.
U.S. v. Tom Munson; U.S. District Court, Northern District of Iowa. Expert consultant for the defense in a criminal case involving the removal of human remains from Effigy Mounds National Monument. Contracted with Mellon Spies & Pavelich, Iowa City, IA
U.S. v. Lucinda June Smith; Case 1:13-cr-0102 GSA; U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California. Expert consultant for the defense in a criminal case involving damage to prehistoric archaeological resources in Inyo County, California. Contracted with the Federal Defender's Office, Fresno, CA.
Walter Rosales et al. v. State of California, Department of Transportation, et al.; Case Number 37-2014-00010222-CU-PO-CTL; Superior Court of California, County of San Diego. Expert witness/consultant for the plaintiffs in a case involving the alleged disturbance of human remains at the Jamul Indian Village, Jamul, CA. Contracted with Webb & Carey, APC, San Diego, CA.
MDM Development Group. Expert consultant for a presentation to the Miami Historic and Environmental Preservation Board and appeal to the Miami City Board of Commissioners regarding the Met Square development in downtown Miami. Contracted to MDM Development Group through Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson, P.A., Miami.
United States of America ex rel. Katherine Knapp v. Calibre Systems, Inc., and Does 1 through 10, Inclusive; Case Number CV 10-4466 ODW (JCGx); U.S. District Court, Central District of California, Western Division. Expert witness for the United States in a case involving cultural resource work at Fort Irwin under the False Claims Act. Contracted with Schonbrun DeSimone Seplow Harris Hoffman & Harrison, LLP, South Pasadena, CA.
Great Basin Gold Limited. Expert consultant for an ARPA civil damage case involving prehistoric resources at the Hollister Mine, between Winnemucca and Elko, NV. Contracted through Louis Berger Group to Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP, Denver.
Aztlan Archaeology Inc et al. vs. Town of Marana. Arizona. Superior Court in Pima County Case C20073229. Provided expert archaeological services in a civil case involving the performance of an archaeological contractor to contracted terms. Contracted through Louis Berger Group to Humphrey & Petersen, P.C., Tucson.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Provided archaeological assistance to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency on a case involving antiquity smuggling across the U.S. Mexico border. Pro bono services.
U.S. Department of Defense. Provided geospatial support for mapping and monitoring site damage to prehistoric resources on the Barry M. Goldwater Range, AZ. Contracted through Statistical Research, Inc. to Luke Air Force Base, Phoenix.
U.S. Department of Defense. Expert consultant on an ARPA civil damage case involving prehistoric and historic resources at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Contracted through Garcia and Associates to Archaeological Resource Investigations, Missoula.
Visual Advocacy, San Francisco. Provided various court exhibits using geospatial technologies on several cases for Visual Advocacy. Contracted through Archaeological Mapping Specialists to Visual Advocacy (Avi Stachenfeld, President).
Orchard Wood Theft, Northern California. Provided the analysis and interpretation of historic photographs on a case involving orchard wood theft in northern California. Contracted through Archaeological Mapping Specialists to Ralph Westfall, Pomona.
U.S. Department of Defense. Provided geospatial analysis and prediction of future site damage from aerial photographs for a prehistoric site being subjected to bank erosion at Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA. Contracted through Archaeological Mapping Specialists to Applied EarthWorks, Fresno.