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

Mealey's Native American Law

August 21, 2023
5th Circuit: District Court Erred In Dismissing Tribal Casino Conspiracy Claims

NEW ORLEANS — A federal trial court erred in dismissing with prejudice conspiracy claims brought by the former chief financial officer of a tribally owned casino in Louisiana because the court already determined that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction and was therefore not permitted to reach the merits of the case, a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held in reversing the trial court’s judgment.
August 21, 2023
California High Court Agrees To Review Tribe’s Coronavirus Coverage Dispute

SAN FRANCISCO — The California Supreme Court granted an Indian tribe insured’s petition to review a state appellate court’s finding that the insured and its experts failed to present sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the coronavirus caused property damage to the tribe’s casino and resort.
August 18, 2023
Federal Parental Kidnapping Law Does Not Apply To Tribes, 8th Circuit Says

ST. LOUIS — The Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act (PKPA) does not apply to Indian tribes because the law makes no reference to tribes, which enjoy their own sovereignty, an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held in affirming a trial court’s dismissal of a petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed by a father who says his daughter is being unlawfully detained on the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation.
August 15, 2023
Public Interest Law Group Focused On Youth Files Brief Opposing Willow Project

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A nonprofit public interest law group filed an amicus curiae brief in Alaska federal court in two separate-but-related cases related to an oil and gas development plan in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska known as the Willow Project, arguing that the additional greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the project will cause “further harm and endangerment to Youth.”
August 15, 2023
Utah, Counties Appeal Dismissal Of Case Against Biden’s National Monuments Decision

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah and two counties on Aug. 14 filed a notice of appeal stating that they are appealing to the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a decision by a Utah federal judge which dismissed their case against the Biden administration for its decision to reinstate the dimensions of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments.
August 15, 2023
10th Circuit Denies Inmate’s Request For Certificate Of Appealability Under McGirt

DENVER — The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in McGirt v. Oklahoma did not toll the one-year statute of limitations period for a petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed by a prisoner in Oklahoma convicted of first-degree murder because he could have discovered earlier through due diligence that Oklahoma had no jurisdiction if his crime committed in Indian country, a 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in denying the prisoner’s request for a certificate of appealability on Aug. 14.
August 15, 2023
Calif. Federal Judge Grants Motion To Compel Arbitration In Tribal Loan Dispute

SAN DIEGO — Loan agreements with extremely high interest rates and arbitration provisions are not substantively or procedurally unconscionable because the two plaintiffs who took out the loans from an entity incorporated under the laws of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe failed to show that the agreements were contracts of adhesion or that their terms prospectively waived federal law protections, a California federal judge found in granting a nonsignatory company’s motion to compel arbitration.
August 11, 2023
Federal Judge: Arbitration Clause In Tribal Lending Agreement Is Unenforceable

CHICAGO — An arbitration provision in a lending agreement that allegedly contains a 775.30 percent interest rate and was signed by a “rent-a-tribe” lending operation is unenforceable under the prospective waiver doctrine and because the agreement is “substantively and procedurally unconscionable,” an Illinois federal judge held in denying the lending company’s motion to compel arbitration.
August 09, 2023
In Employment Dispute, 10th Circuit Affirms Order Sanctioning Utah Tribe

SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah federal judge did not err in finding that the Ute Indian 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, the majority of a 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found Aug. 8 in affirming the judge’s decision to sanction the tribe with attorney fees.
August 09, 2023
California Appeals Panel Affirms Court’s Rejection Of ‘Anticipated’ Water Pact

FRESNO, Calif. — A California appeals court affirmed dismissal of an action in which a water district sought to have the trial court validate an “anticipated contract” between the district and the United States for continued delivery of water from a federal reclamation project and repayment of federal water project funding.
August 08, 2023
10th Circuit: Retroactive Application Of McGirt Did Not Strip Man Of Due Process

DENVER — A federal trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying a motion to dismiss filed by an Indian man who was found guilty of committing voluntary manslaughter in Indian country and argued that he was deprived of due process by the retroactive application of a landmark U.S Supreme Court case that deprived Oklahoma of jurisdiction over such crimes, a 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming the trial court’s judgment on Aug. 7.
August 08, 2023
Minnesota High Court: State Agency’s Request To EPA Was Procedurally Irregular

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Through irregular procedures, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) acted arbitrarily and capriciously when it asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to delay providing written comments regarding a combined National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System/State Disposal System (NPDES/SDS) permit before ultimately approving the permit for a proposed mine and process plant, the Minnesota Supreme Court held in remanding the permit to the MPCA.
August 08, 2023
S.D. Federal Judge Finds Court Lacks Jurisdiction To Hear Tribal Land Claims

RAPID CITY, S.D. — The court lacks jurisdiction to hear the claims of a woman who says federal employees fraudulently confiscated tribal land based on theories of sovereign immunity and lack of standing, a South Dakota federal judge held in dismissing the action sua sponte after the woman moved to proceed in forma pauperis.
August 08, 2023
Oregon Farmers Say Tribe’s Priority Call For Klamath Water Hurts Their Livelihood

MEDFORD, Ore. — An Oregon federal magistrate judge has taken under advisement five plaintiffs’ challenges to the state’s refusal to stay an order that they stop using their water rights for crop irrigation because of a senior call by a Native American tribe.
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.