121 results for 'cat:"Native Americans"'.
J. Baker holds that the trial court should have allowed jurors to consider potential racial motivations in deciding punitive damages imposed on a white defendant found liable for assault and battery on his Native American neighbor. The probative value of any racial motivations outweighed the danger of prejudice, and a jury is entitled to be aware of all the circumstances behind an intentional tort when awarding damages, particularly since it had already determined that defendant acted with malice. Reversed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: Baker, Filed On: August 22, 2023, Case #: DA 22-0701, Categories: native Americans, Damages, Assault
J. Kovner dismisses a civil rights complaint brought by a Native American against the New York Police Department and Administration for Children’s Services along with a group of named and unnamed police officers which claims the existence of a conspiracy spanning more than 7 years to deprive him of his rights on the basis that he is an alleged member of the Yamasee Nation. His claims related to a 2015 traffic stop are dismissed as untimely, his claims regarding an incident in which authorities raided the house of his children’s mother and detained his children by force are dismissed for lack of standing because he was not actually present during the raid, and lastly his claims for conspiracy are dismissed because he fails to allege the various officers and city agents involved explicitly or implicitly agreed to violate his rights.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Kovner, Filed On: August 16, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv2602, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, native Americans, Police Misconduct
J. Kelly finds a lower court properly dismissed a father's motion for a writ of habeas corpus concerning a custody battle over his daughter with her mother, who is a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. The father argued that the tribe lacked jurisdiction to refuse to abide with State ordered custody of his daughter, in violation of the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act. However, the Act does not apply to Native American Tribes. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Kelly, Filed On: August 15, 2023, Case #: 22-2277, Categories: Family Law, native Americans, Habeas
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J. Clark affirms the state government department's July 2023 orders denying stays regarding the property owners' claim that the water diversions from the Upper Klamath Lake (UKL) would not have caused substantial harm to the Klamath Tribe. Diverting the water from UKL as the property owners intended would have brought UKL to lake levels that would leave the tribe's water rights unfulfilled, which qualifies as substantial harm because that would deprive the tribe, fish listed under the Endangered Species Act, and senior appropriators of the necessary water.
Court: USDC Oregon, Judge: Clarke, Filed On: August 9, 2023, Case #: 1:23cv930, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Environment, native Americans, Water
J. Leinenweber denies a lending service’s motion to dismiss a former customer's fraud and RICO class action claims and compel arbitration in their place. The lending service is associated with the South Dakota-based Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, and the customer claims the service hides its predatory, high-interest lending practices under the guise of tribal sovereignty despite the tribe itself receiving less than 3% of its revenue. The federal court finds that compelling arbitration would shunt the case to tribal courts, which it claims have neither subject matter jurisdiction over loan borrowers nor relevant arbitration laws. Leinenweber thus concludes that granting the lending service’s motion would be “unconscionable.”
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Leinenweber, Filed On: August 9, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv1063, NOS: Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) - Other Suits, Categories: native Americans, Banking / Lending, Class Action
J. Patricco grants the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and the Fort Hall Business Council's motion to remand this breach of contract action to the Shoshone-Bannock Tribal Court for the Fort Hall Reservation. The case concerns "a casino expansion project within the boundaries of the Fort Hall Reservation," and the parties' agreement for construction management services placed exclusive jurisdiction in the Shoshone-Bannock Tribal Court. The court concludes that the case was "improvidently removed," because the removal statute is inapplicable, as the case was initiated in tribal court. Furthermore, the removal was untimely, and remand is proper "under the tribal exhaustion doctrine."
Court: USDC Idaho, Judge: Patricco, Filed On: July 24, 2023, Case #: 4:23cv160, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: native Americans, Jurisdiction, Contract
J. Holmes finds that the lower court improperly found that it lacked authority to review a post-judgment relief request from a native tribe in a dispute with Wyoming over the tribe's treaty hunting rights. The lower court did not properly consider whether there were changes in legal or factual circumstances that justified relief before it declared it lacked the authority to review the hunting rights dispute. More proceedings are also needed because specific findings will provide this court with a "crystalized record" that will help navigate potential future appeals. Vacated.
Court: 10th Circuit, Judge: Holmes, Filed On: July 24, 2023, Case #: 21-8050, Categories: native Americans, Agency
J. Robie holds that the trial court improperly dismissed a complaint for trespass and injunctive relief against an elected tribal chairperson after it found that state courts lack jurisdiction over intra-tribal leadership disputes. No tribal dispute existed to deprive the trial court of jurisdiction since neither party challenged the validity of the suspension of the elected chairperson or the authority of the tribal council to act on behalf of the tribe in passing the suspension resolution. The property subject to the trespass claim is not tribal land but is owned in fee simple, and the suspended chairperson failed to show that federal law bars state courts of jurisdiction over property disputes between tribal members over non-tribal land. Reversed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Robie, Filed On: July 12, 2023, Case #: C096097, Categories: Property, native Americans, Jurisdiction
J. Irion finds that the trial court properly dismissed a complaint for attorney fees against the Gambling Control Commission and competing factions of the California Valley Miwok Tribe. The trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the binding fee agreement since the dispute involves issues of tribal membership and leadership. The individual failed to identify any neglect or act by the tribe that would give him the ostensible authority he claims. And the Bureau of Indian Affairs only has the authority to identify a a tribal representative for its own limited purposes. Affirmed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Irion, Filed On: July 10, 2023, Case #: D080288, Categories: native Americans, Jurisdiction, Attorney Fees
J. Phillips finds that the lower court properly allowed a native tribe to conduct gaming operations on a 10-acre lot in Kansas that the tribe bought in the 1990s. The Kansas government has opposed the gaming operations, but the tribe has met all of the legal requirements under the law, namely that the land has been taken into a trust and was properly acquired. Affirmed.
Court: 10th Circuit, Judge: Phillips, Filed On: July 3, 2023, Case #: 21-3097, Categories: Government, native Americans
J. Colloton finds a lower court properly dismissed an energy company's motion to enjoin a preliminary injunction concerning its request to obtain right-of-way access onto Native American land for lack of jurisdiction. The energy company argued that the Bureau of Indian Affairs falsely promised to ban employees from smoking cigarettes on the work site and right-of-way land. However, the energy company failed to exhaust its remedies in tribal court before moving ahead in the federal arena. Reversed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Colloton, Filed On: July 3, 2023, Case #: 22-202, Categories: Property, native Americans, Injunction
J. Scudder finds that the lower court properly dismissed a False Claims Act suit against a tribal health care center alleging she was fired for flagging fraudulent billing practices. Although the health care center is not the tribe itself, it is an arm of the tribe and entitled to sovereign immunity. The individual employees named as defendants to the complaint are also entitled to immunity because they are sued in their official capacities. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: June 29, 2023, Case #: 22-2077, Categories: native Americans, False Claims
J. Piersol dismisses a pro se individual's claims against the Oglala Sioux Tribe Council, Department of Interior and Bureau of Indian Affairs after the individual alleged that Oglala Sioux Tribe Council improperly authorized loans to itself for cannabis businesses in prime locations. The individual's fraud claims are not supported by evidence and the court has no jurisdiction due to tribal sovereign immunity.
Court: USDC South Dakota, Judge: Piersol, Filed On: June 28, 2023, Case #: 5:23cv5041, NOS: Commerce - Other Suits, Categories: Fraud, native Americans, Jurisdiction
J. Conley orders Enbridge to stop operating portions of its oil and gas pipeline on the Chippewa tribe's reservation lands within three years, in part given Enbridge has been found to be trespassing on the lands under expired easements and the potential environmental impacts of ongoing riverbed erosion damaging the pipeline. Enbridge is also ordered to pay the tribe $5.1 million in damages for trespass calculated based on profits it netted while trespassing, additionally pay the tribe for each quarter it continues to trespass and adopt a modified, "more conservative" version of its proposed emergency shutdown plan for the pipeline. An immediate shutdown of the pipeline is not ordered, as the threat of rupture is not imminent and such an abrupt shutdown could severely disrupt markets for oil and natural gas and burden low-income energy consumers.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Conley, Filed On: June 16, 2023, Case #: 3:19cv602, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Environment, Tort, native Americans
J. Kuntz rules in favor of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation on a lawsuit brought by the Unkechauge Indian Nation for equitable relief that seeks to challenge the agency’s statutory authority over their people’s right to freely fish in waterways located upon its reservation lands, arguing it violates their sovereign and religious rights. The agency had requisitioned citizens’ fishing equipment and issued criminal summonses in an effort to curtail overfishing of the American eel, whose populations over the years has dropped significantly since the 1990s. Precedent holds that indigenous communities are not immunized from reasonable, non-discriminatory regulations related to conservation efforts.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Kuntz, Filed On: June 16, 2023, Case #: 2:18cv1132, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: Environment, native Americans
J. Jackson finds that the district court properly held that a lender is not entitled to tribal immunity from claims brought by the borrower because the tribal-owned business continued collection efforts after the borrower filed for bankruptcy, and bankruptcy code strips immunity from all government entities, including federally recognized tribes.
Court: US Supreme Court, Judge: Jackson, Filed On: June 15, 2023, Case #: 22-227, Categories: Bankruptcy, native Americans, Immunity
J. Barrett finds that the district court improperly held that congress lacked authority to enact the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978, which requires that Native American children removed from their homes be placed with other Native American families, because congress has been granted broad power to enact laws related to Native Americans. Reversed in part.
Court: US Supreme Court, Judge: Barrett, Filed On: June 15, 2023, Case #: 21-376, Categories: Constitution, Family Law, native Americans
J. Wooton grants the tribe’s writ prohibiting the lower court’s Sept. 30 order denying the tribe’s motion to transfer an abuse and neglect proceeding to its tribal court after a paternity test determined one if its members is the father of the child currently in foster care. The court finds the judge erred in relying on the “existing Indian family” exception to the Indian Child Welfare Act which applies only to a child removed from its custodial or existing Indian family or alternatively to the “good cause” exception under federal law due to the tribe’s late entry into the proceeding.
Court: West Virginia Supreme Court Of Appeals, Judge: Wooton, Filed On: June 12, 2023, Case #: 22-787, Categories: Government, native Americans, Juvenile Law
J. Kobes finds a lower court properly dismissed a group of motorists' Federal Tort Claims Act violations. The group argued that the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe was obligated to warn them about dangerous road conditions. However, the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Kobes, Filed On: June 9, 2023, Case #: 22-1721, Categories: Tort, native Americans, Jurisdiction