The case is Dilliner v. Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma, 2011 OK 61, No. 109805. From the opinion:
Plaintiffs ask us to conclude that, because the Business Committee granted authority to Chief Spicer to sign employment contracts with tribal employees for three year terms at their current positions and salaries, those contracts must have been approved and ratified in all particulars, including the limited waiver of sovereign immunity. We do not agree with plaintiffs’ position. Federal law requires that the waiver of sovereign immunity be express and unequivocal; it cannot be implied. The Tribe’s Constitution and By-Laws do not authorize the Chief to waive the Tribe’s sovereign immunity.
¶20 Waiver of sovereign immunity was neither expressed nor consented to in the Business Committee’s resolutions that authorized the Chief to sign the employment contracts. Neither of the resolutions expressly ratified the contracts that Chief Spicer entered into: Resolution #27-072607 only authorized the Chief to sign a contract with tribal employees for a three year term, in their present positions of employment and at their present salaries; Resolution #46-081407 ratified only the resolution, not the contracts. We must conclude that under these circumstances, there was no express and unequivocal waiver of the Tribe’s sovereign immunity.5
¶21 The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
Turtle Talk 