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

Mealey's Native American Law

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.
December 08, 2023
Claims Court Judge: Fact Issues Exist About Tribe’s Claims Over Agency Building

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States is not entitled to summary judgment on breach of trust and constitutional taking claims raised by the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe because questions of fact exist regarding the status of an agency building on tribal land the tribe claims the government abandoned, a U.S. Court of Federal Claims court judge found in partly denying the United States’ motion for summary judgment.
December 08, 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.
December 08, 2023
Groups Seek Emergency Relief From 9th Circuit In Ongoing Willow Project Opposition

SAN FRANCISCO — A Native Alaskan group and environmental advocates have filed an emergency motion in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals seeking injunctive relief to avoid “the imminent, irreparable destruction of Arctic wetlands and tundra, and harms to wildlife and people” they say will be the result of ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc.’s construction of the Willow Project, a hydraulic fracturing operation in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
December 08, 2023
Montana Federal Judge Abstains From Considering Native American Man’s Claims

MISSOULA, Mont. — Performing an in forma pauperis review of a complaint filed by a Native American man who said he did not consent to being prosecuted in state traffic court and received ineffective assistance of counsel in state and tribal court, a Montana federal judge dismissed the claims because abstention was warranted in this instance.
December 06, 2023
Judge Denies Injunction, Rules Willow Project Construction Activities May Proceed

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A federal judge in Alaska has denied motions for an injunction pending appeal of her decision to dismiss claims brought by groups that oppose the Willow Project, a hydraulic fracturing operation in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, ruling that the groups failed to satisfy “the Winter factors” and “have not raised a serious question going to the merits.”
December 01, 2023
Tribal Panel: Court Lacks Jurisdiction To Decide If Prisoners Are ‘Indian Persons’

POPLAR, Mont. — Whether two defendants currently being detained by the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribe of the Fort Peck Reservation are “Indian persons” and thus subject to the Fort Peck Tribal Court’s criminal jurisdiction is a factual issue that must be determined by the trier of fact, a Fort Peck Court of Appeals panel found in staying consideration of the two defendants’ petitions for writ of habeas corpus.
December 01, 2023
Tribal Appellate Court: Trial Court Did Not Err In Issuing Custody Order

POPLAR, Mont. — A Fort Peck Court of Appeals panel of the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes found that a trial court did not err in granting physical custody to the father of a child who allegedly has a history of drug abuse and domestic violence because the trial court’s decision was supported by sufficient factual findings.
December 01, 2023
Tribal Appellate Court Vacates Criminal Conviction Based On Hearsay Evidence

POPLAR, Mont. — The Fort Peck Court of Appeals of the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes vacated a man’s theft and burglary conviction because the tribes’ prosecution was based “almost entirely” on hearsay testimony consisting of a Facebook post and a previously recorded interview with a woman who was not available for cross-examination at trial.
November 27, 2023
Golf Course Is Arm Of Tribe, Entitled To Tribal Immunity, Washington Panel Finds

SEATTLE — A company that owns and operates a golf course is entitled to sovereign immunity from a personal injury suit brought by a man who was injured on the course because the company is an arm of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, a Washington panel found in affirming a trial court’s judgment dismissing the case.
November 27, 2023
Montana Federal Judge Grants Prisoners’ Habeas Corpus Petition Against Tribe

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — A man sentenced to more than a year in prison by the courts of the Blackfeet Nation was denied effective assistance of counsel because the tribe sentenced him without the presence of counsel, a Montana federal judge found in granting the man’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus.
November 27, 2023
United States Urges Supreme Court To Deny Review Of Klamath Water Suit Removal

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States says the U.S. Supreme Court should deny a certiorari petition in which the Klamath Irrigation District seeks a writ of mandate to remand to state court its lawsuit asserting primary jurisdiction over the Bureau of Reclamation’s operation of the Kalmath Project and minimum water levels to comply with the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and to benefit two Native American tribes.
November 20, 2023
Supreme Court Grants Cert For Funding Dispute Between Tribes, HHS

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 20 granted two petitions for certiorari filed by the secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to determine whether the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (ISDA) requires 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.