Cite as: 523 U. S. 696 (1998)
Opinion of the Court
had been turned over in full to the United States for the benefit of the Tribe. Ibid.; see supra, at 705-707.
The District Court further noted that Westmoreland did not timely endeavor to recover taxes paid to the State and counties, and that the Tribe did nothing to prompt West-moreland to initiate appropriate proceedings for refunds. App. to Pet. for Cert. 50-51. In that regard, the District Court recalled the Court of Appeals' statement in Crow I that " 'as to the taxes already paid by Westmoreland, . . . the Tribe . . . is apparently not entitled to any refund if the tax statutes are declared invalid.' " App. to Pet. for Cert. 53 (quoting Crow I, 650 F. 2d, at 1113, n. 13).
Concerning the negative effect of Montana's taxes on the marketability of coal produced in Montana, the District Court entertained additional evidence, supplementing the evidence offered ten years earlier. Westmoreland's president testified that "he could not identify any utility contracts lost during the relevant time period due to Montana's coal taxes," App. to Pet. for Cert. 29, and the parties' economic experts presented conflicting testimony on the impact of Montana's taxes on the sale of Montana coal. The District Court described the conflicting positions, but made no findings on the matter. Id., at 29-30.
Satisfied that the factors justifying preemption did not impel the disgorgement relief demanded by the Tribe, that under Cotton Petroleum, the State could impose a reasonably sized severance tax, and that the State, though enriched by Westmoreland's tax payments, did not gain that enrichment unjustly at the expense of the Tribe, the District Court refused to order that Montana coal taxes collected between 1975 and 1982 be remitted to the Tribe.10
10 The Tribe and the United States also claimed that the State and Big Horn County were unjustly enriched as a result of their tortious interference with the Tribe's contractual and business relationships with the Shell Oil Company. The District Court rejected this claim as not proved, see
711
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