Mealey's Native American Law
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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).