Mealey's Native American Law

  • March 27, 2024

    Power Plant On Tribal Land Is Not Exempt From State Taxes, Arizona Panel Finds

    PHOENIX — State ad valorem property taxes imposed on a power plant that sits on tribal trust land leased from the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe are not implicitly preempted under U.S. Supreme Court precedent because the tribe does not own any part of the plant and the taxes do not burden the tribe, an Arizona panel held on remand from the Arizona Supreme Court.

  • March 25, 2024

    U.S. Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments Regarding Tribal Health Care Funding

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on March 25 on 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.

  • March 22, 2024

    Fla. High Court: Casinos Can’t Use ‘Extraordinary’ Writ To Challenge Gaming Compact

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Two casinos are not entitled to a writ of quo warranto because their petition essentially challenges the substantive constitutionality of a state statute implementing a gaming compact signed between Florida and the Seminole Tribe of Florida that allows the tribe to operate sports gambling because the writ cannot be used for such substantive challenges, the Florida Supreme Court found in denying the casinos’ petition on March 21.

  • March 22, 2024

    Illinois Federal Judge: Tribal Lending Agreements Violate State Public Policy

    CHICAGO — Short-term loan agreements issued by a lender affiliated with the Native Village of Minto are unconscionable and violate Illinois public policy because their exclusive application of tribal law forecloses borrowers’ rights to pursue claims under Illinois law that protect residents from usurious loans, an Illinois federal judge found in denying a motion to compel arbitration of class claims arising from the loan agreements filed by the lender and several affiliated parties that were sued by Illinois borrowers.

  • March 21, 2024

    Tribal Gaming Court Dismisses Wrongful Death Claims Arising From Casino Overdose

    UNCASVILLE, Conn. — The father of a man who died after ingesting drugs at a casino operated by the Mohegan Tribe lacks legal standing to bring a claim for wrongful death before the Mohegan Gaming Disputes Trial Court because the man was not legally authorized to bring such claims when he was appointed voluntary administrator of his son’s estate by a New York court, a tribal judge found in granting the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority’s motion to dismiss.

  • March 19, 2024

    Insurers Challenge Ruling That Tribal Court Has Jurisdiction Over Coronavirus Suit

    SEATTLE — Insurers asked the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reconsider its Feb. 29 opinion that affirmed a lower federal court’s finding that a tribal court has subject matter jurisdiction over a coronavirus coverage suit involving tribal properties on tribal land that the Suquamish Tribe brought against “nonmember, off-reservation” insurers that participate in a program that is tailored to and offered exclusively to tribes, arguing that the panel’s “unprecedented expansion of tribal-court jurisdiction warrants rehearing.”

  • March 15, 2024

    In Tribal Land Dispute, 2nd Circuit Refuses To Vacate Trial Court Order

    NEW YORK — A federal court did not err in denying a man’s motion to vacate an order in which the trial court found that a disputed piece of land claimed by the man was a part of the Oneida Indian Nation’s reservation in upstate New York because the man’s motion primarily relied on issues already decided in the case, a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming the trial court’s judgment on March 14.

  • March 13, 2024

    FTCA Does Not Apply To Tribal Employee’s Car Accident, Magistrate Judge Says

    FRESNO, Calif. — The United States should not be substituted as the defendant in a negligence case brought against a man who allegedly caused a motor vehicle accident in a car owned by the Tule River Indian Tribe because the man was acting outside the scope of his employment and his work for the tribe was not covered by the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), a California federal magistrate judge found in recommending that the man’s motion to dismiss be denied.

  • March 13, 2024

    Tribes And Voters Challenge 8th Circuit’s Discovery Ruling In U.S. Supreme Court

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals erred in finding that North Dakota legislators and a government staffer were entitled to the legislative privilege in a case challenging the states’ most recent redistricting plan as unfair to Native Americans, a group of two tribes and three individual voters argue in a petition for writ of certiorari filed in the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • March 12, 2024

    California Federal Judge Dismisses Claims Arising From Tribal Legal Fee Dispute

    SAN DIEGO — A California attorney who sought payment of legal fees from the California Valley Miwok Tribe failed to show that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) had a duty to clarify whether a member of the tribe who signed the attorney fee agreement was authorized to act on behalf of the tribe, a California federal judge found in dismissing the attorney’s administrative claims against the agency without prejudice.

  • March 11, 2024

    Okla. Criminal Appeals Court Says Wyandotte Reservation Was Never Disestablished

    OKLAHOMA CITY — In applying its own precedent from a case regarding the Ottawa and Peoria Reservations, a majority of the Oklahoma Criminal Appeals Court found that Oklahoma lacked criminal jurisdiction over crimes brought against a Cherokee man who was arrested for drunken driving on the Wyandotte Reservation because the crimes were committed by an Indian in Indian country.

  • March 11, 2024

    Tribal Fire Department Enjoys Sovereign Immunity, Federal Judge Finds

    BAY CITY, Mich. — In adopting a report and recommendation, a Michigan federal judge found that the Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Fire Department is entitled to sovereign immunity from claims brought against it by a man who asserted that his home was invaded and his constitutional rights were violated by a tribal firefighter who investigated a fire hazard as his former home.

  • March 11, 2024

    E-Cig MDL Judge: ‘Millions Of Fraudulent Claims’ Filed In $45M Altria Settlement

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge overseeing multidistrict litigation against e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) and tobacco company Altria Group Inc. and its subsidiaries said at a hearing that he would grant final approval to a $45 million settlement with Altria and is “inclined” to approve a 30% attorney fee award, while also advising plaintiffs’ counsel to contact federal prosecutors regarding “millions of fraudulent claims” that were submitted.

  • March 11, 2024

    10th Circuit: McGirt Does Not Require Murder Evidence To Be Suppressed

    DENVER — A trial court did not err in denying a man’s motion to suppress evidence in a trial against him for murder because the law enforcement officers who investigated the crime in 2004 acted in good faith in believing that the land on which the crime was committed was not a part of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, a legal error that was not well understood until a U.S. Supreme Court’s decision clarified the issue in 2020, a 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held in affirming the trial court’s judgment.

  • March 11, 2024

    Tribal Panel Affirms Denial Of Habeas Corpus Petition In Murder Case

    POPLAR, Mont. — A man who was charged with murder and released on bond in the Fort Peck Tribal Court without the presence of an attorney is not entitled to a writ of habeas corpus because the record does not show that he was indigent and therefore entitled to a court-appointed attorney, a Fort Peck Appellate Court panel found in affirming the trial court’s judgment.

  • March 08, 2024

    8th Circuit: Agency Did Not Err In Approving Drilling Near Tribal Water Source

    ST. LOUIS — The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) did not act arbitrarily or capriciously by approving several permits for oil and natural gas extraction under a reservoir that serves as the only source of drinking water for the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation (MHA) because the agency met all administrative requirements in approving the project, an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming a trial court’s judgment.

  • March 06, 2024

    In Tribal Health Care Funding Dispute, D.C. Federal Judge Grants Summary Judgment

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — There is no genuine dispute of material fact regarding the Indian Health Service’s (IHS) decision to reject certain duplicative funding elements for the lease of a hospital owned and operated by the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians because the agency was correct in rejecting the tribe’s funding proposal based on federal regulations governing such lease agreements, a District of Columbia federal judge held in granting summary judgment to the agency.

  • March 05, 2024

    N.M. Panel Affirms Agency’s Findings Regarding Sludge Dumping On Tribal Land

    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) did not err in finding that the operator of a luxury hotel violated several state environmental laws by dumping wastewater sludge onto tribal land because the administrative record supports the findings, a New Mexico appeals panel found in affirming the agency’s decision.

  • March 04, 2024

    Federal Circuit: Acquisition Of Trust Land For Casino Did Not Amount To A Taking

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States’ acquisition of trust land in Oklahoma on behalf of the Cherokee Nation did not amount to a taking of an adjacent property because the property owner failed to allege that the United States was affirmatively involved in constructing a hotel and casino on the trust land, which allegedly caused flooding of the adjacent property, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming a U.S. Federal Claims Court judgment.

  • March 01, 2024

    Tribal Court Has Jurisdiction Over Tribe’s Coronavirus Coverage Suit, 9th Circuit Affirms

    SEATTLE — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 29 affirmed a lower federal court’s finding that a tribal court has subject matter jurisdiction over a coronavirus coverage suit involving tribal properties on tribal land that the Suquamish Tribe brought against “nonmember, off-reservation” insurers that participate in a program that is tailored to and offered exclusively to tribes.

  • March 01, 2024

    Termination Over COVID-19 Policy Was Not Tied To Man’s Native American Heritage

    TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey county and local union are entitled to summary judgment on claims brought against them by a man who says he was terminated from his employment with the county because of his Native American “cultural” opposition to a COVID-19 vaccination policy because the man failed to show that the termination was related to his race or national identity, a New Jersey federal judge found Feb. 29 in granting the county’s and union’s summary judgment motions.

  • March 01, 2024

    In Protective Order Dispute, 10th Circuit Says Tribal Police Officers Are Immune

    DENVER — Choctaw Nation police officers sued by a Cherokee woman who alleged that the officers failed to enforce a protective order issued by the Choctaw Nation District Court against her non-tribal neighbor are entitled to tribal sovereign immunity from the woman’s claims because the allegations implicate the officers in their official capacity, a 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming a trial court’s decision to dismiss the pro se plaintiff’s claims.

  • March 01, 2024

    Following Consent Decree, S.D. Federal Judge Closes Native American Bias Case

    RAPID CITY, S.D. — Nearly two months after entering a consent decree signed by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and owners and managers of a hotel who allegedly discriminated against Native Americans, a South Dakota federal judge administratively closed the case filed against the owners and managers.

  • February 28, 2024

    5th Circuit: Prosecutor In Reservation Shooting Case Should Not Have Been Recused

    NEW ORLEANS — A federal trial court did not err in declining to recuse an assistant U.S. attorney for an alleged conflict of interest in a criminal trial arising from a shooting on an Indian reservation in Mississippi because the attorney’s previous representation of the defendant was not substantially related to the current case, a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming the defendant’s conviction and sentencing.

  • February 28, 2024

    Man Who Operated Illegal Tribal Casino Failed To Timely File Malpractice Claim

    CANTON, Ohio — A man who was arrested for illegally operating a tribal casino upon the advice of an attorney failed to timely file his legal malpractice claim within the applicable one-year statute of limitations because he should have been aware that the advice he received was incorrect when he was indicted, an Ohio panel found in affirming a trial court’s judgment.