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

Mealey's Native American Law

September 25, 2023
Tribal Health Care Funding Question Raised In 2 Supreme Court Petitions

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In two petitions for a writ of certiorari presenting the same question, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services asks the U.S. Supreme Court to consider 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 self-determination contracts.
September 21, 2023
9th Circuit Affirms Findings In Dispute Over Puget Sound Tribal Fishing Rights

SEATTLE — A federal trial court did not err in finding that the Lummi Nation does not have fishing rights in the waters east of Puget Sound’s Whidbey Island because no evidence shows that the tribe historically fished there, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming the trial court’s decision.
September 21, 2023
Officers Appeal Grant Of Preliminary Injunction Over Tribe’s Cigarette Business

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A group of tribal officers and a tribal tobacco corporation have appealed to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals an order from a California federal judge granting a preliminary injunction in favor of California against one of the officers who is alleged to have illegally distributed cigarettes within the state.
September 18, 2023
Government Urges High Court To Uphold ‘Bedrock Principle’ Of Chevron Deference

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. secretary of Commerce, two National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) officials and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) (collectively, the government) urge the U.S. Supreme Court in a Sept. 15 brief to not overrule the doctrine of Chevron deference in a challenge to fishery regulations that were upheld by the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, writing that doing so could “cause disruption” to complex federal regulatory schemes.
September 18, 2023
In Affirming Conviction, 11th Circuit Says It’s Irrelevant If Man Is Cherokee

ATLANTA — It is irrelevant whether a man is a member of the Cherokee Nation because he violated federal firearms laws and his crimes did not occur in Indian country, an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming the man’s conviction by a federal jury.
September 15, 2023
Fla. Panel: Unclear If Gaming Compact Bars Tort Claims Against The Seminole Tribe

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — It is unclear whether a man’s tort claims against the Seminole Tribe of Florida are barred by the compact governing the tribe’s gaming operations because nothing in the record shows that the tribe responded within 30 days to the man’s notice, as required by the compact, a Florida appellate panel found in reversing a trial court’s decision to deny the tribe’s motion to dismiss.
September 12, 2023
United States And Tribe Granted Summary Judgment On Clean Water Act Claims

SEATTLE — In disposing of three motions for summary judgment, a Washington federal judge granted the United States and the Puyallup Tribe of Indians summary judgment on several alleged Clean Water Act (CWA) violations arising from the rupture of a diversion channel during construction at a power plant that caused pollutants to enter the Puyallup River.
September 12, 2023
Oregon District Asks High Court To Rule On Jurisdiction In Water Adjudication

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Klamath Irrigation District has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on whether the federal government can avoid the doctrine of prior exclusive jurisdiction in an ongoing water adjudication under the McCarren Amendment by asserting defenses based on federal law and removing cases to federal courts.
September 11, 2023
Native American Man Failed To Allege Discriminatory Intent In Housing Dispute

BUFFALO, N.Y. — A Native American man who says he was evicted from a housing unit because of his identity failed to allege that his landlord acted with any kind of discriminatory intent in his original complaint or his motion to amend, a New York federal magistrate judge held in recommending that the landlord’s motion for judgment on the pleadings be granted (Michael R. Paladino v. Jason Beaumont, et al., No. 20-65, W.D. N.Y., 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 155608).
September 11, 2023
Arizona Federal Judge: Farmers Violated River Decree With 4 Wells

TUCSON, Ariz. — An Arizona federal judge has ruled that three farmers are pumping water from the Gila River in violation of a 1935 water decree and granted summary judgment in favor of two Native American tribes.
September 11, 2023
In Tribal Contract Dispute, Utah Federal Judge Refuses To Sanction Businessman

SALT LAKE CITY — A business development contractor who has a long-running breach of contract dispute with the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation did not act in bad faith when he responded to the tribe’s motion to dismiss in state court despite being enjoined from taking any action in the case, a Utah federal judge found in refusing to sanction the man with attorney fees.
September 11, 2023
Federal Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Tribe Member’s Land And Trust Claims

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A member of the Blackfeet Tribe who alleged that the United States violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and breached its trust relationship by not maintaining land subject to a federal conservation program failed to show that the Court of Federal Claims had subject matter jurisdiction over the dispute, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found Sept. 8 in affirming the Claims Court’s order dismissing the case.
September 11, 2023
Federal Magistrate: Oregon Properly Denied Stays Of Klamath Lake Regulation

MEDFORD, Ore. — An Oregon federal magistrate judge has affirmed orders by the Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD) denying stays in five related cases involving tribal water rights in the Upper Klamath Lake pending appeals.
September 08, 2023
Kroger Agrees To Pay $1.2 Billion To Settle Nationwide Opioid Claims

CINCINNATI — Supermarket chain Kroger Co. has agreed to pay up to $1.2 billion to states and $36 million to Native American tribes to fund abatement efforts to settle the majority of pending or potential claims that the company failed to monitor suspicious opioid orders and created a public nuisance from the opioid addiction epidemic, according to the company’s Sept. 8 press release.
September 07, 2023
Employees Owed No Duty To Patron Who Died After Dispute In Tribal Casino Lot

TACOMA, Wash. — Employees of a tribal casino are not liable for negligence allegedly arising from the death of a casino patron who was thrown out of a moving car by her boyfriend in the casino’s parking lot because the employees were sued in their individual capacities and owed no duty to the patron, a Washington appellate panel found in affirming the trial court’s dismissal of the case.
September 06, 2023
Fracking Company To Relinquish Lease At Center Of Dispute With Federal Agency

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 5 entered an order approving the joint motion of a hydraulic fracturing company and the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) for an abeyance pending approval of a settlement agreement in a long-running dispute over a lease the fracking company has agreed to surrender.
September 01, 2023
Calif. Federal Judge Dismisses Citizen Groups’ Claims Challenging Tribal Casino

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A citizen groups’ Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) claim is moot and its other claims challenging the Jamul Indian Village’s casino operations are futile because the village enjoys sovereign immunity, a California federal judge found in dismissing the groups’ claims without leave to amend.
September 01, 2023
Tribal Appellate Court Affirms Dismissal Of Drug Possession Charges

POPLAR, Mont. — If the Fort Peck Tribal Court erred in finding that drug residue was not a sufficient enough quantity to support a charge for unlawful possession of dangerous drugs, the error was irrelevant because the finding was one of two independent grounds for dismissal identified by the trial court, a Fort Peck Tribal Court of Appeals panel found in denying the Fort Peck Tribes’ appeal.
September 01, 2023
Virginia Federal Judge Decides Tribal Lending Dispute Won’t Be Arbitrated

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — A class of individuals who claim that they were issued usurious loans by lenders affiliated with the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians (the tribe) cannot be compelled to arbitrate because the contracts governing the loans violated public policy by waiving all state substantive remedies, a Virginia federal judge found in denying two motions to compel arbitration.
August 30, 2023
Suit Challenging Corps’ Reversion To 2020 WOTUS Rule Transferred To Georgia

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has granted a motion by a mining company to transfer to the Southern District of Georgia a lawsuit by four environmental groups challenging a settlement that reinstated approval jurisdictional determinations (AJDs) for a Clean Water Act permit application based on the now-replaced 2020 waters of the United States (WOTUS) definition.
August 30, 2023
Federal Claims Court Judge Dismisses Tribal Leadership Recognition Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge granted the United States’ motion to dismiss claims brought against it by the Winnemucca Indian Colony, which alleges that it was monetarily damaged by the government’s failure to recognize its properly elected council, because the court lacks jurisdiction over the tribe’s claims for various reasons .
August 30, 2023
Illinois Federal Judge: Company Waived Right To Arbitrate Tribal Lending Claims

CHICAGO — A company that allegedly has been using its partnership with the Rosebud Sioux Tribe to unlawfully claim tribal sovereign immunity from the issuance of usurious loans cannot arbitrate claims arising from several loan agreements because it waived any right it might have had to arbitrate through its litigation conduct, an Illinois federal judge found in denying the company’s motion to compel arbitration.
August 29, 2023
Tribal Appellate Court In Montana Says Lower Court Correctly Applied Precedent

POPLAR, Mont. — The Fort Peck Tribal Court properly applied Fort Peck Court of Appeals’ case law in denying a defendant’s motion to dismiss counts of rape and family member assault against him in which he argued that a rape test must be performed for the case to proceed, a Court of Appeals panel found in denying the defendant’s appeal without prejudice.
August 25, 2023
Couple Who Says Resort’s Mask Policy Is Unconstitutional Failed To State Claims

PHOENIX — In granting two motions to dismiss, an Arizona federal judge found that a couple who were expelled from the Great Wolf Lodge in Phoenix after refusing to comply with the resort’s COVID-19 mask policy failed to state their claims of conspiracy and constitutional violations against the resort and that defendant Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community enjoys sovereign immunity from the claims.
August 22, 2023
Prisoner Invoking McGirt Denied Certificate Of Appealability By 10th Circuit

DENVER — A prisoner serving a 20-year sentence is not entitled to a certificate of appealability of a federal trial court order denying his petition for a writ of habeas corpus under McGirt v. Oklahoma because he failed to show that reasonable jurists could debate whether the trial court was incorrect in denying his petition under the statute of limitations.