economic development – Page 24

Where an arbitration agreement contains a separate “delegation provision” that reserves for an arbitrator the authority to decide any disputes concerning arbitrability, does Section 2 of the Federal Arbitration Act require a court to decide any challenge to that provision’s validity before the court may proceed to address whether the parties’ underlying dispute is arbitrable?

Lower court materials here.

Update:

BIO: BriefInOpposition

Federal Court Dismisses Big Sandy Rancheria’s Challenge to State Tax Laws

August 15, 2019August 15, 2019Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are the materials in Big Sandy Rancheria Enterprises v. Becerra (E.D. Cal.):

1-complaint-6.pdf

10-1-state-treasury-mtd.pdf

11-1-state-ag-mtd.pdf

13-first-amended-complaint-2.pdf

15-1-state-ag-mtd.pdf

16-1-state-treasury-mtd.pdf

20-tribe-response-to-16.pdf

21-tribe-response-to-15.pdf

23-state-tax-dept-reply.pdf

24-state-ag-reply.pdf

44-dct-order.pdf

Eighth Circuit Decides Kodiak Oil & Gas (USA) Inc. v. Burr]

August 5, 2019Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

Excerpt:

A dispute over the practice of flaring natural gas from oil wells fuels the legal controversy in this case: the scope of Native American tribal court authority over nonmembers. Several members of the MHA Nation sued numerous non-tribal oil and gas companies in MHA tribal court. Those companies operate oil wells on lands within the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation that have been allotted to individual tribe members but are held in trust by the federal government. The tribe members alleged the companies owed royalties from wastefully-flared gas. Some of these companies unsuccessfully contested the tribal court’s jurisdiction over them in tribal court. Then they initiated this action in federal court to enjoin the tribal court plaintiffs and tribal court judicial officials. The district court issued a preliminary injunction, and the tribal court plaintiffs and officials separately appealed. We affirm the injunction because we conclude suits over oil and gas leases on allotted trust lands are governed by federal law, not tribal law, and the tribal court lacks jurisdiction over the nonmember oil and gas companies.

Briefs here.