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

Mealey's Native American Law

January 17, 2024
New Mexico Supreme Court: State Courts Lack Jurisdiction To Hear Casino Tort Cases

SANTA FE, N.M. — Two previous federal court opinions triggered a termination clause within New Mexico’s tribal gaming compact regarding waiver of sovereign immunity because the opinions held that jurisdictional shifting of tort claims that arose at tribal casinos from tribal to state court is not authorized by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), the New Mexico Supreme Court found Jan. 16 in holding that the state’s courts lacked jurisdiction to hear a tort casing brought against the Pueblo of Pojoaque for injuries suffered by a worker at the tribe’s casino.
January 17, 2024
Company Appeals Order Finding Lease For Campground On Tribal Land Was Terminated

SAN FRANCISCO — A company that signed a lease agreement with the Blackfeet Indian Nation for a campground on tribal land appealed to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a Montana federal court order finding that the lease was terminated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) when the company failed to timely make its payments.
January 17, 2024
Idaho Federal Judge: Bus Driver Sued As Individual Doesn’t Enjoy Tribal Immunity

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho — A bus driver who was allegedly involved in an altercation that led to a man’s wrongful arrest is not entitled to sovereign immunity as an employee of the federally recognized Coeur d’Alene Tribe because he was sued in his individual capacity, an Idaho federal judge found in denying the bus driver’s motion to dismiss.
January 12, 2024
Alaska Supreme Court Affirms Findings In Dispute Over Herring Fishing Rights

JUNEAU, Alaska — In upholding three findings issued by a trial court, a majority of the Alaska Supreme Court held that the court did not err in finding that the Sitka Tribe of Alaska would not be irreparably harmed in absence of a preliminary injunction enjoining the Alaska Department of Fish and Game from opening the 2019 herring commercial fishing season.
January 12, 2024
Oklahoma Federal Judge Orders Ejectment Of Wind Turbines From Osage Nation Lands

TULSA, Okla. — Relying upon a 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals opinion from earlier in the case, an Oklahoma federal judge found that three energy companies that constructed and operate a wind farm on Osage Nation lands committed trespass, continuing trespass and conversion and issued a permanent injunction in the form of completely removing the wind turbines.
January 11, 2024
Panel: Trial Court Did Not Err In Denying Injunction In Tribal Casino Loan Dispute

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A trial court did not err in denying a motion for an injunction in which the La Posta Band of Diegueno Mission Indians requested that the Yavapai-Apache Nation (YAN) be enjoined from pursuing claims in its own tribal courts arising from a loan between the two tribes to fund a casino that eventually failed because La Posta failed to meet its burden of showing that an anti-suit injunction was appropriate, a California appellate court panel held in affirming the trial court’s judgment.
January 10, 2024
Groups Tell 10th Circuit National Monuments Decision Should Stand

DENVER — Environmental advocates and Native American groups filed response briefs in the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 9 in the litigation over President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s decision to reinstate the original dimensions of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments under the Antiquities Act. The environmental groups contend that the court should affirm the trial court’s holding that Biden had the authority to make the decision, and the Native American groups say the parties challenging it lack standing.
January 10, 2024
Oklahoma Federal Judge: Tribal Town May Withdraw Waiver Of Sovereign Immunity

TULSA, Okla. — The Thlopthlocco Tribal Town has sovereign immunity from cross-claims in the courts of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation (MCN) and may withdraw any waiver of sovereign immunity because sovereigns may not be subjected to cross-claims without prior consent, an Oklahoma federal judge said in granting declaratory relief to the Tribal Town, which previously faced cross-claims in the MCN’s courts from a man who attempted to take control of the town’s government.
January 09, 2024
8th Circuit: Trial Court Did Not Err In Relying On Man’s Tribal Convictions

ST. LOUIS — A federal court did not err by upwardly departing from sentencing guidelines based on a man’s 26 prior tribal court convictions because courts are entitled to do so and the court adequately explained its reasoning for increasing the man’s sentence, an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming the man’s 90-month sentence.
January 08, 2024
U.S. High Court Won’t Decide If State Has Jurisdiction In Klamath ESA, Tribal Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 8 denied a petition by the Klamath Irrigation District for the high court to order that the district’s lawsuit against the federal government’s operation of the Klamath Project be remanded to state court and included in a water adjudication.
January 08, 2024
Before Supreme Court, HHS Secretary Argues Tribes Are Not Entitled To More Funding

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a petitioners’ brief on the merits in the U.S. Supreme Court, the secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) argues that the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (ISDA) does not require the Indian Health Service (IHS) to pay “contract support costs” for expenditures of income collected by Indian tribes from third parties under federal self-determination contracts.
January 05, 2024
Federal Judge Dismisses Water Rights Case After Tribes’ Rights Are Settled

OKLAHOMA CITY — An Oklahoma federal judge has granted an unopposed motion by the Oklahoma Water Resources Board and Oklahoma City to dismiss their water rights complaint against the United States in light of a 2016 settlement agreement among the board, the city and the United States regarding the water rights of two Native American tribes in the context of a stream adjudication.
January 03, 2024
Counterclaims Dismissed In Native American Discrimination Case Against S.D. Hotel

RAPID CITY, S.D. — A South Dakota federal judge dismissed the majority of counterclaims and third-party claims brought by the owners and managers of a hotel who allegedly violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by discriminating against Native Americans because the defendants failed to state a claim on all but their nuisance claim.
January 02, 2024
U.S. Supreme Court Refuses To Stay Sanctions Order Entered Against Utah Tribe

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court denied an application filed by the Ute Indian Tribe asking the court to stay a 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals judgment that said that a Utah federal judge did not err in finding that the tribe used arbitration proceedings to intimidate a potential future witness in one of a series of disputes among the tribe, one of its former employees and an independent contractor.
December 22, 2023
Premature Filing Did Not Bar Tort Claim Against Tribe, Florida Panel Finds

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A woman’s premises liability claim against the Seminole Tribe of Florida for liability at the tribe’s casino is not barred by sovereign immunity even though the woman filed her original claim less than one year after giving the tribe notice of the claim, in violation of the terms of the gaming compact between the tribe and Florida, because the premature filing was cured when she voluntarily dismissed her complaint and refiled it several months later, a Florida appellate panel found in affirming a trial court’s judgment.
December 21, 2023
Federal Agencies Say Utah, Counties Lack Standing In National Monuments Case

DENVER — Federal agencies have filed a brief in the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals arguing that the state of Utah and two counties that oppose President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s decision to reinstate the original dimensions of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments have not established standing to challenge his decision under the Antiquities Act.
December 15, 2023
N.D. Federal Judge: Federal Government Was Required To Issue Permit To Protestors

BISMARCK, N.D. — The discretionary function exception of the Federal Torts Claim Act (FTCA) is not available to the United States for claims brought by North Dakota that it negligently caused damages by allowing protestors of the Dakota Access pipeline to illegally occupy federal land because the government had a mandatory duty to issue a special use permit under the circumstances, a North Dakota federal judge found in granting North Dakota’s motion for partial summary judgment.
December 14, 2023
Magistrate Judge: Tribal Court Has Sovereign Immunity From Civil Rights Claims

MOSCOW, Idaho — The Nez Perce Tribal Court is entitled to sovereign immunity from claims brought by a man who argued that he was twice deprived of a fair trial because the Tribal Court is an extension of the Nex Perce Tribe, an Idaho federal magistrate judge found in granting the Tribal Court’s motion to dismiss.
December 13, 2023
Lease For Campground On Tribal Land Was Terminated, Montana Federal Judge Says

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — A lease agreement between a company and the Blackfeet Indian Nation for a campground on tribal land was terminated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) when the company failed to timely make its payments, and it was not revived or later implied in fact because the agreement is governed by federal regulations, not general principles of contract law, a Montana federal judge found in granting the tribe’s motion for summary judgment.
December 13, 2023
Tribal Panel Vacates Trial Court Decision Regarding Casino Loan Default Dispute

MIDDLE VERDE, Ariz. — The Yavapai-Apache Nation Tribal Court erred in denying a motion to dismiss a complaint brought by the Yavapai-Apache Nation (YAN) against the La Posta Band of Diegueno Mission Indians for the latter’s alleged negligent misrepresentation used to secure a loan to fund a casino that eventually failed because a California state jury already determined that no misrepresentation occurred, a Yavapai-Apache Nation Court of Appeals panel found Dec. 12 in vacating the Tribal Court’s judgment.
December 12, 2023
Washington Federal Judge: Sackett Decision Didn’t Affect CWA Consent Decree

SEATTLE — The U.S. Supreme Court’s adoption of a definition of wetlands for the purposes of the Clean Water Act (CWA) did not constitute a significant change in circumstances that warranted revision of a consent decree entered between the United States, an Indian tribe and two companies over the companies’ alleged illegal discharges of dredged and fill material into protected waters because the definition was previously unchallenged in the case, a Washington federal judge found in denying the companies’ motion to vacate or modify the consent decree.
December 11, 2023
Dispute Over N.Y. School’s Use Of Native American Imagery Is Moot, Panel Finds

ALBANY, N.Y. — A New York appeals court panel found that a dispute over a public school’s use of Native American nicknames and symbols for its sports teams is now moot because recent state regulations forbid any public school in the state from using such imagery except for the purposes of education.
December 11, 2023
9th Circuit: Major Crimes Act Does Not Discriminate Against Native Americans

SEATTLE — The Major Crimes Act (MCA) does not discriminate against Native Americans on the basis of race but instead reflects the unique status of Native Americans within the legal system, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming the conviction of a man who was prosecuted under the MCA.
December 11, 2023
In Health Care Dispute, Michigan Federal Judge Denies Tribe’s Motion For Default

BAY CITY, Mich. — The Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan is not entitled to default judgment against a health insurance provider that allegedly violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by improperly administering two health insurance plans because the tribe failed to show that the providers’ failure to comply with discovery orders was due to willfulness, bad faith or fault, a Michigan federal judge found in denying the tribe’s renewed motion for default judgment.
December 11, 2023
Sheriff Must Respond To Petition Of Man Convicted In Tribal Court, Judge Says

RENO, Nev. — The sheriff of a county that is holding a man who was convicted by a tribal court must respond to the man’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus under the immediate custodian rule, a Nevada federal judge found in an order disposing of three motions.