On August 2, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit decided a case addressing Nebraska’s authority to require tribal cigarette manufacturers that are not parties to the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) to comply...more
The Alaska Supreme Court recently affirmed and expanded Tribal sovereignty in Ito v. Copper River Native Association, issued on April 26, 2024, in which the court adopted a new multi-factor inquiry to determine whether an...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reversed and remanded a district court’s ruling, holding that waiver of sovereign immunity for claims related to a federal contracting program means the defendant, a sovereign...more
AQuate II, LLC v. Jessica Tedrick Myers and Kituwah Global Gov’t Group, LLC, is, as all parties put it, about “an archetypical trade secrets claim,” but with a couple of twists: sovereign immunity and an agreement to resolve...more
On May 1, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued a sweeping decision impacting sovereign immunity for tribally-owned government contractors. The first-of-its-kind appellate decision concludes that by...more
Recent trends in privacy legislation, including the passage of California Consumer Privacy Act, more commonly referred to as the CCPA, as well as copycat laws in at least nine other states, make clear the intention of state...more
This is a story that connects some dots we might well imagine have no connection: a 19th century murder, a 21st century adoption, Native tribal sovereignty, Supreme Court Justices past and present, and a law firm where we...more
On June 29, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the Western District of Wisconsin’s decision that an entity created under tribal law was entitled to immunity as an arm of the tribe and dismissed claims characterized...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
Section 106(a) of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code expressly abrogates the sovereign immunity of "governmental units" for purposes of certain bankruptcy-related litigation. A split of authority concerning whether that abrogation...more
There has been a recent decision on an interesting case involving a challenge to the ability of the federal government to provide benefits or rights to Tribes and other Native organizations....more
The United States recognizes nearly 600 tribes in more than 30 states and tribal sovereignty is protected in the U.S. Constitution, but local governments often lack a general knowledge of tribes’ culture and legal status. In...more
A little more than three years ago, the Federal Circuit rejected the University of Minnesota's contention that LSI was barred from bringing (and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board barred from hearing) an inter partes review of...more
This week, the Court addresses whether a court or an arbitrator must consider a sovereign immunity defense to arbitration, and applies the False Claims Act to a defendant’s allegedly fraudulent Medicare billing practices. ...more
First Circuit - Coughlin v. Lac Du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians - The issue was whether tribal sovereign immunity protected the tribal lender from the automatic stay. On May 6, 2022, the First Circuit...more
Deepening a split of circuits, the First Circuit Court of Appeals held that the Bankruptcy Code waived the sovereign immunity of Native American Tribes. The May 6, 2022 opinion by Judge Sandra L. Lynch sided with the Ninth...more
This week, the Ninth Circuit takes a deep look at tribal sovereign immunity. OERTWICH V. TRADITIONAL VILLAGE OF TOGIAK - The Court holds that the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the plaintiff’s...more
Most of us have heard the expression “Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.” The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit did not slaughter the officials of the lenders in its November 16, 2021 opinion in Hengle...more
On June 23, 2021, the Ninth Circuit in Deschutes River All. v. Portland Gen. Elec. became the first court in the country to hold that Congress did not clearly and unambiguously waive tribal sovereign immunity under the Clean...more
This week, we take a look at a Ninth Circuit decision navigating the intricacies of appellate review of interlocutory arbitration orders, and another exploring the difference between a federally chartered tribal corporation...more
In a decision published October 19, 2020, Judge Frank J. Bailey of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts found that an Indian tribe was not subject to the Bankruptcy Code’s automatic stay. This decision...more
For over 20 years, the State of California has used tribal gaming compacts to accomplish what federal law and tribal sovereignty would otherwise forbid: forcing tribes to follow state labor law in their casinos. Recently...more
New Mexico has been making waves with several noteworthy labor and employment developments. This Lightbulb will highlight interesting legal quirks in the Land of Enchantment, along with recently enacted and proposed...more
LSI and Ericsson petitioned for inter partes review (IPR) of several patents owned by the University of Minnesota (UMN). UMN moved to dismiss each IPR based on state sovereign immunity. The Patent Trial and Appeal Board...more
On January 16, 2020, the New Mexico Supreme Court issued its decision in Mendoza v. Isleta Resort and Casino, holding that a tribe does not waive its sovereign immunity to workers’ compensation claims merely by committing in...more