In a recent judicial decision involving the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, the Tribe has faced a setback in establishing a casino near Detroit, Michigan. The case of Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians v....more
In a momentous legal development, U.S. District Court Judge Sharon L. Gleason has vacated and remanded a decision by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) to place a 787-square-foot parcel of land in downtown Juneau into...more
On June 10, 2024, the Ninth Circuit entered an opinion finding that the Choctaw Nation had expressly waived its sovereign immunity against arbitration, determining that the contractual provision between the Nation and...more
By Heidi McNeil Staudenmaier and Kelsey Haake In a momentous decision on June 6, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a resounding victory for Native American tribes. The Court ruled that the Indian Health Service (IHS)...more
In the recent Arizona federal court case, Xia v. Harrah’s Arizona Corp., five individuals, Jie Xia, Necy Sundquist, Mary Grace Abon, Susan Samons, and Maria Henry (Plaintiffs), brought wrongful termination, discrimination,...more
In a significant legal development, the Alaska Supreme Court recently expanded tribal sovereign immunity to include tribal consortiums, overturning a precedent set two decades ago. The groundbreaking decision of Ito v. Copper...more
Just before the University of Connecticut’s and the University of South Carolina’s wins in March Madness, Louisiana issued a major change to college sports betting. Starting August 1, 2024, Louisiana’s Gaming Control Board...more
Generally, tribal lands held in trust by the federal government are exempt from state and local taxation under Section 5 of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 (the Act). However, when non-Indians are involved in ownership...more
3/27/2024
/ Appeals ,
AZ Supreme Court ,
Commercial Leases ,
Economic Development ,
Indian Reorganization Act ,
Preemption ,
Property Ownership ,
Property Tax ,
Tax Exemptions ,
Tribal Economic Development Projects ,
Tribal Lands
In the complex landscape of Indigenous rights and jurisdiction, the question of tribal authority over Alaska Native allotments has long been a subject of legal debate. The recent Opinion known as Partial Withdrawal of...more
On February 27, 2024, the District Court for the Eastern District of California entered an order finding that California did not negotiate a Class III gaming compact in good faith with Plaintiff Alturas Indian Rancheria...more
On February 29, 2024, the Ninth Circuit issued its opinion in Lexington Insurance Co. v. Smith (Suquamish Tribe). The Court affirmed the tribal court’s subject-matter jurisdiction over Lexington pursuant to the Tribe’s...more
3/8/2024
/ Appeals ,
Dismissal With Prejudice ,
Federal Court Litigation ,
Insurance Industry ,
Jurisdiction ,
Lack of Jurisdiction ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Reservation of Rights ,
SCOTUS ,
Subject Matter Jurisdiction ,
Surplus Lines Insurance ,
Tribal Courts
On February 16, 2024, the United States Department of the Interior (“DOI”) issued revisions to its regulations for how it reviews Class III Tribal-State Gaming Compacts under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (“IGRA”). The...more
On January 31, 2024, the United States Department of the Interior issued gaming procedures under the Federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (“IGRA”) for five tribes located in California: Blue Lake Rancheria, Chemehuevi Indian...more
In a contract dispute between CHR Solutions Inc. and Gila River Telecommunications Inc., a business entity wholly owned and operated by the Gila River Indian Community (“GRIC”), the question of tribal sovereign immunity and...more
In a recent decision, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled in the case of Sipp v. Buffalo Thunder Inc. that state courts do not have the authority to adjudicate tort claims filed by casino visitors. The unanimous decision...more
1/23/2024
/ Appeals ,
Bodily Injury ,
Casinos ,
Damages ,
Immunity ,
Indian Gaming ,
Indian Gaming Regulation Act ,
Jurisdiction ,
State Law Tort Claims ,
Termination Clauses ,
Tribal Lands ,
Tribal-State Gaming Compacts
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), in an effort to improve and streamline the tribal land acquisition application process, recently announced changes to the pertinent federal regulations, 25 CFR Part 151. Prior to the...more
In an order filed on June 27, 2023, the Arizona District Court determined that a wireless provider co-owned by the Navajo Nation was not immune from suit in federal court. In Tsosie v. N.T.U.A. Wireless LLC, et al.,...more
On June 15, 2023, the United States Supreme Court held that “the Bankruptcy Code unambiguously abrogates the sovereign immunity of all governments, including federally recognized Indian tribes.”1 In other words, Native...more
On February 10, 2023, the Honorable Judge Angel Kelley of the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts ruled that the U.S. Department of the Interior acted legally when it took into trust 321 acres of land (two noncontiguous...more
The Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians (“Rincon”) in California has taken a historical step under its federally approved Class III Secretarial Gaming Procedures to withdraw from California’s state oversight of its tribal gaming...more
A three-panel Arizona Court of Appeals ("the panel”) unanimously ruled on January 10, 2023, that, under U.S. Supreme Court precedent, the gross proceeds from work performed under federal contracts on Native American...more
On January 13, 2023, the Supreme Court granted the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians’ Petition for a Writ of Certiorari to resolve the split of circuits on whether Section 106 of the Bankruptcy Code...more
On November 16, the Solicitor for the U.S. Department of the Interior issued Opinion M-37076, clarifying that the Secretary of the Interior does in fact have authority to acquire land in trust within the State of Alaska. The...more
On September 15, 2022, the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island (“Court” or “District Court”) entered a significant declaratory judgment addressing the Department of Justice’s (“DOJ”) historically...more
On July 28, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (“Court” or “Ninth Circuit”) issued a significant decision addressing the Class III gaming compact negotiation process between a state and a tribe as required by the Federal...more