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

Mealey's Native American Law

January 19, 2023
D.C. Circuit Reverses, Says DOI Owes Navajo Nation Judicial Services Funds

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The federal government’s failure to act nine years ago on the Navajo Nation’s request for a large funding increase for judicial services on the reservation has come back to haunt it, with the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that federal Indian self-determination regulations bar the Department of the Interior (DOI) from declining future funding requests.
January 17, 2023
Certiorari Granted In Row Over Bankruptcy Code’s Abrogation Of Tribal Immunity

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 13 granted certiorari in a tribal payday lending dispute to decide whether the U.S. Bankruptcy Code abrogates Indian tribes’ sovereign immunity from suit.
January 13, 2023
8th Circuit Upholds Dismissal Of Tribal Member’s Negligence Suit Over Crash

ST. LOUIS — A Native American who was seriously injured in an auto/lawnmower accident on the property of a tribal hospital cannot pursue negligence claims against the United States because sovereign immunity bars the claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held in affirming dismissal of the case.
January 11, 2023
Minnesota Tribe Retains Policing Authority From Treaty, Federal Judge Declares

MINNEAPOLIS — A Native American tribe in Minnesota has treaty-granted “inherent sovereign law enforcement authority” on its reservation, a federal judge in the state declared Jan. 10 in a summary judgment victory for the tribe in its bid to stop a county from limiting the powers of the tribe’s police department.
January 10, 2023
Judge Dismisses Counterclaims, Third-Party Suits In New York Tribe’s Smoke Shop Row

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A New York federal judge on Jan. 9 mostly dismissed counterclaims filed against the Cayuga Nation by the operators of a non-tribal smoke shop on the nation’s reservation for shutting down the shop and dismissed the operators’ third-party complaints against a tribal official in their entirety because the operators failed to show that he was acting in his individual capacity when they were evicted from the shop.
January 10, 2023
Groups Seek To Intervene In National Monument Case To Preserve Historic Objects

SALT LAKE CITY — Three groups have filed a brief in Utah federal court arguing that they should be permitted to intervene in a lawsuit over the dimensions of two national monuments, the boundaries of which have potential implications for hydraulic fracturing, because the groups say they “have the full preservation of the Monument and protection of its objects of historic and scientific interest at the heart of their organizational missions.”
January 09, 2023
Government Defends Review Of Fracking Permits In N.D. Tribe’s 8th Circuit Appeal

ST. LOUIS — The federal government approved permits for a non-Indian energy company’s hydraulic fracturing well project along Lake Sakakawea in North Dakota on the reservation of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara (MHA) Nation after a complete vetting of the project and with full input from the tribe during the review process, the government says in defending a summary judgment ruling in its favor to the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
January 06, 2023
Tribe Owes Developers $88M For Failed Casino Projects, Michigan Judge Rules

LANSING, Mich. — A Michigan Indian tribe’s gaming authority must pay more than $88 million to two casino development companies who sued after they lost their investment in the construction of two casinos because the facilities were never built, a state court judge ruled after default was entered against the authority and a bench trial was held on damages.
January 05, 2023
Law Firm, California Tribe Seek Dismissal After Settlement Reached

SAN DIEGO — A long-running breach of contract dispute between a law firm and a California Indian tribe, which fired the firm during negotiations with the state for a tribal gaming compact, has ended in a settlement, with the parties jointly moving to dismiss all claims and counterclaims in federal court.
January 04, 2023
Ex-Worker Of Tribal Agency Can Amend Some Wrongful Termination Claims

MUSKOGEE, Okla. — An Oklahoma federal magistrate judge on Jan. 3 dismissed some claims in a wrongful termination action filed against a tribal housing agency by a former employee but allowed the worker to amend his suit to provide “further factual support” for the surviving two civil rights claims.
January 03, 2023
9th Circuit Panel Upholds Dismissal Of Washington Tribe’s Suit Over Fish Passage

SEATTLE — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 30 affirmed dismissal of a lawsuit filed by a Native American tribe over the lack of a migratory fish passageway at a hydroelectric dam, finding no subject matter jurisdiction because the suit was subject to the Federal Power Act (FPA), which grants jurisdiction to the federal courts of appeals over objections to orders by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
January 03, 2023
City Pays Yakama Nation $295,000 To Settle CERCLA Litigation

YAKIMA, Wash. — A federal judge in Washington has entered a judgment in favor of the Confederate Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation in their dispute with the city of Yakima over contamination at a former municipal landfill.
December 23, 2022
Indians Evicted From Homes Denied Injunctive Relief By Nevada Federal Judge

RENO, Nev. — Ten tribal members who have been evicted from their homes on a 20-acre reservation in Nevada by the tribe’s interim government are not entitled to a preliminary injunction because they did not show that they will probably succeed on their challenge to the eviction actions, a federal judge in the state ruled in denying the members’ motion.
December 22, 2022
DOI Says It’s Not Obligated To Provide Navajo Nation With Colorado River Water

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States’ trust relationship with the Navajo Nation does not require the federal government to oversee the tribe’s right to use water from the Lower Colorado River, the Department of the Interior (DOI) says in its opening brief on the merits in the U.S. Supreme Court.
December 19, 2022
Fracking Company Says Current Lease Appeal Should Not Be Assigned To Prior Panel

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A hydraulic fracturing company engaged in a federal lease dispute with the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) filed a brief in the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, arguing that it should deny a motion by an intervenor Native American group seeking to have the appeal assigned to the same panel that heard a prior, related appeal. The fracking operator says that while the attempt is “an understandable litigation tactic,” it is still “inappropriate.”
December 15, 2022
Wife Dismissed From Husband’s Suit Challenging Tribal Court Divorce Action

SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge on Dec. 14 dismissed a tribal member wife from her husband’s lawsuit against her tribe and its tribal court seeking to undo a ruling in the divorce proceeding that the wife initiated in the tribal court, finding that the husband’s complaint fails to state a valid claim against the wife.
December 14, 2022
Ohio Supreme Court Affirms Actions To Preserve Earthworks As Public Park

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Supreme Court has upheld rulings in favor of the state’s historical society in its lawsuit seeking to appropriate the lease interest of a country club so the prehistoric mounds of the Octagon Earthworks can be converted from a golf course to a public park that will be nominated as part of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks for international recognition on the United Nations’ World Heritage List.
December 13, 2022
9th Circuit Reverses Dismissal Of Tribal Member’s Suit Over Banned Graduation Cap

SAN FRANCISCO — A Native American woman sufficiently alleged at the motion-to-dismiss stage that her high school violated her constitutional rights by not allowing her to wear a graduation cap adorned with beads and an eagle feather, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held in reversing and remanding.
December 12, 2022
Supreme Court Denies Review For Crow Tribe’s Regulation Of Utility

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A rural electricity cooperative on Dec. 12 lost its bid for U.S. Supreme Court review of federal court rulings that it must abide by a Montana Indian tribe regulation that limits the conditions under which utility companies can shut off residential service during the winter.
December 08, 2022
Fracking Advocates Seek Ruling Biden Administration’s Lease Pause Was ‘Unlawful’

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Groups that advocate for hydraulic fracturing activity in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) have moved in Alaska federal court seeking summary judgment declaring the Biden administration’s actions unlawful with regard to his decision to issue a moratorium on federal lease sales in that region.
December 07, 2022
Tribe’s Chief Judge Selected For Michigan Appeals Court Open Seat

LANSING, Mich. — Michigan’s governor on Dec. 6 appointed the chief judge of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians Trial Court as the first tribal citizen to sit on the Michigan Court of Appeals.
December 07, 2022
Juul, MDL Plaintiffs Announce 4 Settlements Of Illegal Marketing Claims

SAN FRANCISCO — Juul Labs Inc. (JLI) and the co-lead counsel representing plaintiffs suing it in federal multidistrict litigation and a California state court coordinated proceeding announced Dec. 6 that they have reached four global settlements to resolve thousands of lawsuits against JLI for illegally marketing its products to youth and forcing government entities and tribes to divert resources to address youth vaping.
December 06, 2022
Tribe, Water Districts Seek Extended Stay Pending Mediated Settlement

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A Native American tribe and two water districts have asked a California federal judge to extend for three months his stay of their water rights case because they believe that private mediation can result in a settlement.
December 06, 2022
Water Takings Suit Remanded To Oregon State Court As Untimely Removed

MEDFORD, Ore. — An Oregon federal judge has granted a motion by Oregon to remand to state court a complaint that tribal water rights result in the uncompensated taking of a ranch’s property.
December 06, 2022
United States, Utah, Water District Seek Dismissal Of Tribe’s Water Rights Claims

SALT LAKE CITY — The United States, the state of Utah and a Utah water district have filed briefs asking the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah to dismiss in whole or in part a lawsuit brought by a Native American tribe alleging a breach of duty to provide water and water rights since the creation of the reservation in the 1900s and through several water projects and water agreements.