Mealey's Native American Law : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Native American Law

August 07, 2023
9th Circuit Affirms Conviction Of Man Who Attempted To Rob Tribe’s Gas Station

SAN FRANCISCO — Nevada has jurisdiction over an attempted robbery committed at a gas station owned by a federally recognized Indian tribe because the clerk who was the victim of the crime was a non-Indian, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming a denial of the criminal’s petition for writ of habeas corpus.
August 07, 2023
Tribe Sues Interior Department To Force Diversion Of Unused Water To Pyramid Lake

RENO, Nev. — A Nevada Native American tribe has sued the U.S. Department of the Interior for allegedly failing to fulfill the federal government’s obligations under the Truckee-Carson-Pyramid Lake Water Settlement Act by failing to return water to Pyramid Lake to support fish important to the tribe.
August 07, 2023
Stay Of Order Barring Tulsa’s Jurisdiction Over Indian Crimes Vacated By Justices

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Supreme Court Justices Brett M. Kavanaugh and Samuel A. Alito Jr. on Aug. 4 vacated a previous order by Justice Neil M. Gorsuch staying a 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ judgment that held that Tulsa, Okla., does not have jurisdiction over municipal violations committed by Native Americans on Indian land in the city under a 125-year-old act of Congress.
August 04, 2023
Claims Court Says Summary Judgment Is Inappropriate In Tribal Trust Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — After determining that several issues raised in summary judgment cross-motions have already been decided, a U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge denied the remainder of the motions filed by a consortium of federally recognized Indian tribes and the United States on the tribes’ claims that the government breached its fiduciary duty as administrator of a trust fund established for the tribes’ benefit after a boarding school for Native American children in Phoenix was sold.
August 03, 2023
Cert Needed For 9th Circuit’s Dismissal, Remand Ruling, Washington Tribe Says

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In their arguments against certiorari, Seattle and its hydroelectricity agency fail to rebut that the jurisdictional issue presented by a Washington Indian tribe’s challenge to the lack of a fish passageway at one of Seattle’s dams “is exceptionally important and the [Ninth Circuit U.S.] Court of Appeals’ decision threatens separation of powers,” the tribe says in a reply brief in the U.S. Supreme Court.
August 03, 2023
Idaho Federal Judge Remands Construction Management Dispute To Tribal Court

POCATELLO, Idaho — An Idaho federal judge remanded contract claims to the tribal court where they were originally filed by the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and the tribe’s business council over the allegedly negligent expansion of a casino on the tribe’s reservation because the defendant-construction management company’s removal was untimely and the tribal exhaustion doctrine warranted remand.
August 03, 2023
In Tribal Preservation Case, Rhode Island Can’t Be Sued In D.C. Federal Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal court lacks personal jurisdiction over Rhode Island because the Narragansett Indian Tribe only alleged that one of the state’s attorneys entered D.C. to engage with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) over disputes that arose from attempts to preserve an archaeological site that was threatened by an interstate construction project, a D.C. federal judge found in granting Rhode Island’s motion to dismiss under the government contacts exception to D.C.’s long-arm statute.
July 28, 2023
9th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Group’s Challenge Of Approval Of Tribal Casino

SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a trial court judgment dismissing a citizen group’s challenge to a Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) decision to approve the construction of a casino on land held in trust for the Ione Band of Miwok Indians because the Ninth Circuit rejected the group’s claims and theories in a previous appeal.
July 27, 2023
Native American Tribe Seeks Punitive Damages From 3M, Others For PFAS Pollution

CHARLESTON, S.C. — A Native American tribe has sued 3M Co., E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. and others in South Carolina federal court contending that they have polluted Lake Superior with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from the firefighting agent known as aqueous film forming foam (AFFF), leading to drinking water contamination. The tribe argues further that the defendants knew, or should have known, that PFAS chemicals are “extremely hazardous.”
July 27, 2023
Justice Gorsuch Stays Ruling Barring Tulsa’s Jurisdiction Over Native Americans

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil M. Gorsuch on July 26 stayed a finding by the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that Tulsa, Okla., does not have jurisdiction over municipal violations committed by Native Americans on Indian land in the city under a 125-year-old act of Congress.
July 26, 2023
Wash. Federal Judge: Tribal Court Has Jurisdiction Over Nonmember’s Marriage Case

SEATTLE — A tribal trial court has jurisdiction over a nonmember, his marriage and his former marital home because the nonmember worked for the tribe for more than 10 years, was married to a member, rented two homes from the tribe, lived on the reservation and received financial assistance from the tribe in purchasing his marital home, a Washington federal judge held in denying the nonmember’s motion for summary judgment on his request to have the federal court vacate a tribal appellate court’s orders.
July 24, 2023
Certificate Of Indian Blood Itself Doesn’t Toll Limitation For Prisoner’s Petition

MUSKOGEE, Okla. — A prisoner’s reception of a certificate of degree of Indian blood membership card did not toll the one-year limitations period for filing a petition for writ of habeas corpus under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) because the prisoner failed to allege that he was previously unaware of his membership in a tribe or that he could not have earlier discovered his membership, an Oklahoma federal judge found in granting the warden-respondent’s motion to dismiss the prisoner’s petition.
July 24, 2023
Tribal Appellate Court Affirms Denial Of Motion To Amend Parenting Plan

PABLO, Mont. — A panel of the Appellate Court of the Confederate Salish and Kootenai Tribes affirmed a trial court’s decision to deny a motion to amend a parenting plan because the man filing the motion failed to follow court procedures and filed a legally insufficient motion.
July 21, 2023
Virginia Federal Judge Denies Summary Judgment In Tribal Lending RICO Suit

RICHMOND, Va. — A nontribal member of a tribally owned payday lending business is not entitled to summary judgment on a class of customers’ claims of usury and unjust enrichment because Virginia has a strong public policy against usury that allows the state’s usury statute to be interpreted broadly and a reasonable jury could find that all elements of the unjust enrichment claim are satisfied, a Virginia federal judge held in denying the member’s motion for summary judgment.
July 21, 2023
9th Circuit: Tribe Is Protected From Work Termination Case By Sovereign Immunity

SAN FRANCISCO — Federal courts have no jurisdiction to hear the claims of a former employee of the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians tribe who alleged that the termination of his employment violated his due process rights because the tribe enjoys sovereign immunity that was not waived or abrogated by Congress in this instance, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held in affirming a trial court’s judgment.
July 13, 2023
Tribes To Dismiss Opioid Cases After $70.94M Settlement With Drugmaker Allergan

CLEVELAND — Fifteen Native American tribes and health care organizations and drugmaker Allergan Finance LLC have asked the opioid multidistrict litigation court to dismiss the tribes’ claims pursuant to a $70.94 million settlement agreement.
July 11, 2023
10th Circuit Affirms Approval Of Gambling Operations On Land Purchased By Tribe

DENVER — The secretary of Interior did not act arbitrarily or capriciously in taking land purchased by the Wyandotte Tribe into trust and approving it for gaming operations because the secretary adequately considered evidence showing that the land was purchased using funds awarded to federal defendants by Congress for settlement of a land claim, the majority of a 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming the secretary’s decision.
July 11, 2023
United States Seeks Dismissal Of Crow Members’ Water Rights Act Lawsuit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of the Interior has moved to dismiss a year-old lawsuit by six members of the Crow Tribe alleging that the Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 2010 improperly seeks to take their water rights without due process or just compensation.
July 11, 2023
Tribal Business Council’s Sovereign Immunity Refuted In Supreme Court Petition

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Sovereign immunity does not bar fraud and racketeering claims leveled against an Indian tribe’s business council by a tribal member and her company because the council waived its immunity in a mandatory arbitration clause in the parties’ joint venture agreement, the company and owner tell the U.S. Supreme Court in a petition for a writ of certiorari.
July 11, 2023
10th Circuit: Reclamation Took ‘Hard Look’ At Utah Water Exchange Contract

DENVER — A divided 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on July 10 affirmed a trial court ruling that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation took the required “hard look” at a proposed water contract between the agency and Utah and provided a reasoned explanation concluding that the contract did not require an environmental impact statement (EIS) for any effect on water or fish resources in the Green River Basin.
July 10, 2023
Attorney Loses Fee Bid In Another Appeal In California Tribe’s Leadership Row

SAN DIEGO — In a long-running tribal leadership battle that has made six previous trips to California appeals courts, another panel of appellate judges turned back challenges by an attorney for one of the tribal factions to the dismissal of his suit seeking payment for representing the group, finding that the federal government did not grant the faction “ostensible authority” to enter into the fee agreement on behalf of the tribe.
July 10, 2023
Arizona Federal Judge: Telecom Company Is Not An Arm Of The Navajo Nation

PHOENIX — A telecommunications company, one of its managers and his wife are not entitled to tribal sovereign immunity against claims that the manager made unwelcome suggestive comments and physical contact to another employee at a work dinner because the factors of the “arm of the tribe” test weigh against immunity for the company, an Arizona federal judge found in denying the defendants’ motion to dismiss.
July 10, 2023
7th Circuit: Tribal Immunity Bars Employment Claims Against Health Center

CHICAGO — A health center and five of its employees are entitled to tribal sovereign immunity against claims of retaliation brought by a former employee who alleged that she was fired for whistleblowing because the center is an “arm of the tribe” that established it, a Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming a Wisconsin federal judge’s decision to grant the center and its employees’ motion to dismiss.
July 07, 2023
Tribe, Fishermen Withdraw Injunction Motion After New Klamath Water Plan Posted

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge has confirmed the withdrawal of a motion by the Yurok Tribe and two fishermen’s nonprofit organizations to enjoin the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation from supplying irrigation water from the Klamath Project until water flows are ensured for endangered salmon.
July 07, 2023
Right Of Way Smoking Ban Row With Oil Company Sent Back To Tribal Court

ST. LOUIS — An Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that a federal judge erred by enjoining Indian landowners, a tribal judge and tribal court from prosecuting claims against an energy company for violating a ban on smoking on a right of way granted to the company that ran through the landowners’ property, ruling that the energy company must first exhaust its remedies before the tribe’s appellate court.