Mealey's Native American Law
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February 21, 2023
Washington Federal Judge: Natural Resource Damages Claim Not Unripe
SPOKANE, Wash. — A bid for summary judgment by a smelter accused of disposing millions of tons of toxic slag and liquid effluent into the Columbia River was rejected Feb. 17 by a federal judge in Washington, who said a claim for natural resources damages is ripe.
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February 17, 2023
Convicted Child Sex Abuser Denied Certificate To Appeal By 10th Circuit
DENVER — The 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 16 denied a certificate of appealability for a Native American man seeking to challenge his Wyoming state court conviction for second-degree sexual abuse of a minor, rejecting his claims of ineffective counsel and denial of his right to practice his religion.
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February 16, 2023
Immunity Protects Cape Cod Tribe From Suit Over Shellfishing, Panel Says
BOSTON — Tribal sovereign immunity protects a Cape Cod Indian tribe from trespass and nuisance claims leveled by an island owner who accuses the tribe’s commercial shellfishing business of trashing the island and its private tidelands, the Massachusetts Appeals Court determined Feb. 15 in affirming dismissal of the property owner’s commonwealth court suit.
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February 14, 2023
DOI, Massachusetts Tribe Win Summary Judgment In Reservation Land Dust-Up
BOSTON — The Department of the Interior’s decision in 2021 to take land into trust for a Massachusetts Indian tribe after originally turning down the request was not random or impulsive, a Massachusetts federal judge held in awarding the agency and tribe summary judgment on claims by local residents who have been fighting the land designation for 15 years.
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February 10, 2023
DOI Ordered To Complete Record For Tribe’s Suit Over Recognition Denial
SEATTLE — The federal government must provide a complete administrative record for its decision not to include a Washington Indian tribe on the list of federally recognized tribes because the tribe produced evidence showing that it was the only tribe out of 16 that did not have its recognition petition reviewed under new regulations, a federal judge in the state determined Feb. 9.
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February 10, 2023
Dozens Of Tribes, Others Back Navajo Nation In Supreme Court Water Rights Case
WASHINGTON, D.C. — It is “blackletter law” that the United States, as trustee of reserved water rights for Indian tribes, is obligated to identify the waters reserved for tribes like the Navajo Nation, a group of large tribes tells the U.S. Supreme Court in an amicus curiae brief in a dispute over water from the Colorado River.
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February 08, 2023
Insurance Row Over Tribe’s COVID-19 Losses Stays In Tribal Court, Judge Rules
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A tribal court has subject matter jurisdiction over an insurance company in a dispute over the tribe’s claims for business interruption losses at its casino caused by the coronavirus pandemic, a federal judge in California held in awarding summary judgment to two tribal judges in the insurer’s federal declaratory judgment suit.
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February 07, 2023
Inmate’s Habeas Petition Based On McGirt Filed Too Late, Judge Says
OKLAHOMA CITY — Neither an inmate’s claims of innocence nor the change in criminal jurisdiction in Oklahoma brought about by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in McGirt v. Oklahoma can save the inmate’s untimely bid for habeas relief, which was filed 25 years into a 30-year prison sentence, an Oklahoma federal judge ruled in granting dismissal.
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February 07, 2023
Landowners Appeal Process Used In Tribal Water Rights Case In Washington
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two individuals and a landowners association have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to grant a writ of certiorari for a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision that they say deprived them of their day in court in a tribal water rights case.
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February 07, 2023
Judge Rejects Challenges By Tribes, Others To Approval For Nevada Lithium Mine
RENO, Nev. — The Bureau of Land Management needs to review on remand one aspect of a proposed lithium mine, but otherwise its approval of the project stands, a Nevada federal judge decided Feb. 6 in ruling on various motions for summary judgment, including two filed by intervening Native American tribes challenging the project.
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February 07, 2023
Judge: Endangered Species Act Preempts Oregon Order For Federal Water Releases
SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on Feb. 6 ruled that the Endangered Species Act (ESA) preempts an order by the Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD) that prohibited the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation from releasing water from the Upper Klamath Lake to preserve downstream endangered fish species during drought conditions.
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February 07, 2023
No Jurisdiction To Hear Choctaw Couple’s Oklahoma Taxation Suit, Judge Rules
MUSKOGEE, Okla. — A Choctaw Nation couple cannot pursue federal claims against the Oklahoma Tax Commission based on their argument that the landmark jurisdiction ruling in McGirt v. Oklahoma prevents the state from assessing taxes against them on the tribe’s reservation because the claims are barred by the Tax Injunction Act, a U.S. judge in Oklahoma held in dismissing the couple’s suit.
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February 07, 2023
Navajo Nation, U.S. Stipulate To Dismissal Of WOTUS Rule Challenge
LAS CRUCES, N.M. — The Navajo Nation, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have jointly stipulated to dismissing the tribe’s challenge of the Trump administration’s rule defining the “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) in light of the Biden administration publishing a revised definition.
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February 07, 2023
Tribe, U.S., Water Users Stipulate To Wait For ESA Ruling In Other Case
MEDFORD, Ore. — Parties in an Oregon federal lawsuit over endangered species and the federal operation of the Klamath Dam project have stipulated to exclude parallel issues they say are already being litigated in another case in California federal court.
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February 06, 2023
Federal Judge Dismisses Indians’ Class Suit Claiming Oklahoma Prosecutions Invalid
TULSA, Okla. — Five Native Americans in Oklahoma who were charged with traffic or misdemeanor offenses by local police cannot pursue class claims against dozens of counties, courts, municipalities and prosecutors in federal court because the court lacks subject matter jurisdiction under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine, a federal judge in the state ruled in granting motions to dismiss.
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February 06, 2023
9th Circuit Won’t Rehear Case Where It Found Tribes Required In Water Project Suit
SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has denied motions by several California irrigation districts and irrigation users to rehear arguments challenging federal operation of the Klamath Project or for an en banc rehearing.
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February 03, 2023
Government Failing In Its Duty To Navajo Nation, Tribe Tells Supreme Court
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States is breaking the promise it made to the Navajo Nation more than 150 years ago for “a permanent homeland in their ancestral territory, with sufficient water to fulfill the Reservation’s purposes,” constituting a breach of the government’s trust obligations to the tribe, the Nation tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a brief on the merits.
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February 02, 2023
10th Circuit Partly Reverses In Groups’ Fracking Permit Dispute
DENVER — The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) did not predetermine the results of a supplemental environmental analysis for hydraulic fracturing permits but violated federal law by not thoroughly examining the impact the permit approvals have on certain emissions, the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held Feb. 1 in a partial win for a Native American association and environmental groups.
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February 01, 2023
Remand Needed To Decide Sovereign Rights Issue In Fracking Suit, Tribe Argues
ST. LOUIS — A dispute between a North Dakota Indian tribe and the federal government over a hydraulic fracturing project on tribal land should be remanded to decide whether the project poses enough of a threat to tribal health and welfare that the tribe retains its inherent sovereign power to regulate it, the tribe tells the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a reply brief.
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January 31, 2023
9th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Tribal Member’s Suit In Leadership Row
SAN FRANCISCO — A tribal member cannot use a federal lawsuit to challenge the government’s decision to recognize one faction of the tribe as its leaders because having the court involved in an intratribal dispute would trample on the tribe’s right to self-governance, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in upholding dismissal of the suit.
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January 31, 2023
California Tribe Sues To Halt Clay Mining Project Planned Next To Tribal Land
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California Indian tribe filed suit in federal court looking to stop a proposed new surface clay mining operation next to its casino and reservation lands, saying the project “will directly infringe on the Tribe’s right to exclusively possess and use the Tribe’s Rancheria.”
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January 30, 2023
2nd Circuit Decides Appeal In N.Y. Thruway Easement Suit In Favor Of Seneca Nation
NEW YORK — Dismissal of claims by a New York Indian tribe over an easement across tribal land for part of the New York State Thruway do not warrant dismissal because the tribe’s suit is not barred by collateral estoppel or constitutional immunity, a divided Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held in affirming.
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January 26, 2023
4th Circuit Affirms Class Certification For Tribal Lending RICO Suit
RICHMOND, Va. — A Virginia federal judge did not abuse his discretion in certifying a class of customers seeking to hold the operator of “rent-a-tribe” payday lending businesses liable for racketeering and violation of the commonwealth’s usury law because common issues predominate, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held in the operators’ appeal of the class certification ruling.
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January 23, 2023
California Tribe’s Suit In Casino Contract Row Dismissed For No Jurisdiction
SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge has dismissed a California tribe’s suit challenging state appellate court rulings in a long-running dispute over construction and equipment rental contracts for a casino, this time with prejudice after finding again that the federal court has no subject matter jurisdiction under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine.
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January 20, 2023
In Longstanding Pollution Case Against Poultry Companies, Oklahoma Prevails
TULSA, Okla. — In a 219-page opinion detailing findings of fact and conclusions of law from a 52-day bench trial that took place in 2009, a federal judge in Oklahoma has sided with Oklahoma on allegations that Tyson Foods Inc. and other Arkansas-based poultry plants polluted the Illinois River.