economic development

Michigan State Bar Indian Law Section to Grant Tecumseh Peacekeeping Award to Matt Wesaw

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

State Bar of Michigan

American Indian Law Section Annual Meeting
September 19, 2013 at 2:00 p.m.
The Lansing Center
333 E. Michigan Avenue
Lansing, MI 48933

 

The American Indian Law Section is pleased to announce that Matt Wesaw is the recipient of the 2013 Tecumseh Peacekeeping Award.  Please join us in honoring him at the American Indian Law Section Annual Meeting. Tribal Leaders, staff and community members are welcome.   We will also be having a program on “Financing Economic Development” featuring Kristi Jackson and Rob Gips.  There is no charge and light refreshments will be served. 
The 2013 Tecumseh Peacekeeping Award Recipient is Matt Wesaw. 

Matthew Wesaw has spent his career devoted to public service.  He began by enlisting with the Michigan State Police in 1975.  During his 26-year career as a state trooper, Mr. Wesaw received numerous awards, recognitions and promotions.  He was elected to the position of Vice President of the Michigan State Police Troopers Association in 1995, a position he held until his retirement in January of 2001.  Throughout his career, Mr. Wesaw has held many positions in Native American organizations, including past board member to the Lansing American Indian Center, Nokomis Learning Center, and past chairman of the Commission on Indian Affairs. He has also served on the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians Tribal Council as a member, Chairman and Vice Chairman.  In 2004, Mr. Wesaw was appointed to the Michigan Civil Rights Commission, becoming only the second Native American appointed to the Commission.  In 2010, he became the first Native American to serve as Chair of the Commission, a position he held until 2012.  In 2007, Mr. Wesaw was hired as the Executive Director of the United Tribes of Michigan.  He served in this position until his election as Tribal Chairman of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians in 2009.  In addition to his current position as Chairman at Pokagon, he serves as the President and CEO of the Pokagon Gaming Authority, as the Recording Secretary for the National Congress of American Indians and on the Council on Law Enforcement and Reinvention committee.

 

This year’s program is “Financing Economic Development.”

Our two featured speakers are Kristi Jackson and Rob Gips.

Kristi Jackson will be focusing her remarks on the following: financial and business due diligence issues to consider when creating an economic development project; issues to look for to make sure an economic development project can be successful; and various financing options available for these projects.

Rob Gips will be focusing his remarks on the following: legal due diligence issues to consider when creating an economic development project; best practices for negotiating financing with banks or other investors; and how tribal laws can impact financing negotiations.

Kristi Jackson is the CEO of Tribal Financial Advisors, an investment banking firm she co-founded in 2009 to exclusively serve tribes with financing related issues.  TFA raises capital for tribes as well as works on general financial advisory assignments – often as an enhancement to a tribe’s own finance team.  TFA has been a part of over $1billion of capital raised for tribes since 2010.  In her prior role, she served as a managing director of Bank of American Secruities, leading the tribal finance effort which raised more than $15 billion of capital for over 30 tribes, including syndicated bank debt, high yeild and tax-exempt bonds.  Ms. Jackson holds a Bachelor’s decgree in economics and mathematics from the University of California at Irvine and a MBA from Anderson School at UCLA.

 

Rob Gips is special counsel on Indian affairs at the Drummond Woodsum law firm. He has served as legal counsel and as a key business and financial advisor to Indian tribes since 1983. Rob’s practice has included service as general counsel and as an advisor in business and financial transactions by tribal governments throughout the United States.His specialized business development work for his clients has included the creation and acquisition of hotel, resort, casino and gaming facilities, tribal housing, tribal manufacturing facilities, industrial lands and a broad variety of both on- and off-reservation joint ventures, and representation of parties in a variety of complex commercial financing in Indian country. Mr. Gips has a Bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a J.D. and M.B.A. from Yale Law School and Yale School of Management.

Briefs in Quechan Challenge to Ocotollo Wind Energy Facility in S. California

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are the briefs in Quechan Tribe of the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation v. Dept. of Interior:

Doc 11_1 Appellant’s Opening Brief 090413. wo Addendum

Doc 15 CRIT Amicus Brief

Federal Appellee Brief

Reply brief TK

Lower court materials here.

Federal Court Enjoins MegaLoads on Nez Perce Land — Lack of Tribal Consulation

Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

Here are the materials in Nez Perce Tribe v. United States Forest Service (D. Idaho):

Nez Perce (Mega-load) Consultation decision (Sept 2013)

Complaint

Motion for TRO/PI

USFS Opposition

Reply in Support of Motion for PI

Prior posts here and here.

NYTs Coverage of Tribal Payday Lender Suit against New York

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

An excerpt:

Online lending has become a popular venture for Indian tribes over the last several years as states have cracked down on payday loans. The tribes say that in many cases, e-commerce activities have become a vital source of revenue, especially because their remote locations inhibit their ability to operate casinos. For the Otoe Missouria Tribe, lending revenue accounts for roughly half of the tribe’s nonfederal budget, according to a court filing.

“Every Indian tribe worth its salt has to provide health care, public safety, education and a panoply of essential services to its members,” said Matthew Fletcher, a law professor at Michigan State University and an authority on Indian law. “These tribes must reach off the reservation to conduct business because there is a desperate need for revenue.”

Preliminary Injunction Motion Pleadings in Otoe-Missouria Tribe v. NY State Dept. of Financial Services

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Hearing today on this motion.

Here:

Plaintiffs’ Motion for PI

NY Opposition

Plaintiffs’ Reply

Prior posts with pleadings here and here.

Federal Court Orders Tribal Exhaustion in Coeur d’Alene Reservation Waste Dumping

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are the materials in St. Isidore Farm LLC v. Coeur D’Alene Tribe of Indians (D. Idaho):

1 Complaint

3-1 St. Isadore Motion for TRO

7 DCT Order Granting TRO

17 Coeur d’Alene Response

21 Coeur d’Alene Motion to Dismiss

28 St. Isadore Reply

43 St. Isadore Response

44 Coeur d’Alene Reply

61 DCT Order Granting Motion to Dismiss

News coverage here.

Grand Canyon Skywalk Development Cert Petition

Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

Here is the cert petition in the case now captioned Grand Canyon Skywalk Development LLC v. Grand Canyon Resort Development Corporation:

Petition For A Writ Of Certiorari

Questions presented:

1. Does Montana v. United States, 450 U.S. 544 (1981) apply on tribal land, as this Court suggested in Nevada v. Hicks, 533 U.S. 353, 358 (2001), or does this Court acquiesce in the Ninth Circuit’s contrary decision in Water Wheel Camp Recreation Area v. LaRance, 642 F.3d 802 (9th Cir. 2011)?

2. Does a non-tribal member consent to tribal jurisdiction under Montana even when that “consent” comes in the form of a contract with a tribal corporation which expressly provides that disputes will be resolved through binding arbitration, not in tribal court, and where the tribal enterprise has expressly waived its sovereign immunity to permit arbitration?

3. Are intangible contract rights of a Nevada corporation located on federal land held in trust for the Tribe and thus subject to the Tribe’s eminent domain powers because they relate to activities on tribal land?

4. Does the bad-faith exception to National Farmers exhaustion require a showing that the tribal court acted in bad faith, or is it sufficient to demonstrate that the Tribe’s governing council (Tribal Council) did so and that the Tribe’s judiciary lacked judicial independence?

Lower court materials here.

Update in Otoe-Missouria Tribe v. NY State Dept. of Financial Services

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here:

DCT Order to Show Cause

Plaintiffs’Letter re: Order to Show Cause

Complaint here.

Tribal Payday Lenders’ Complaint against New York State Dept. of Financial Services

Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

Here is the complaint in Otoe-Missouria Tribe v. New York State Dept. of Financial Services (S.D. N.Y.):

Otoe-Missouria et al Complaint

Press Release on Federal Complaint against New York DFS over Tribal Payday Lending

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

WASHINGTON (August 21, 2013) — After recent actions by New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) Administrator Benjamin Lawsky to unlawfully intimidate Native American tribes and the legal and licensed businesses they run, a coalition of Tribes has filed a complaint today with the United States District Court Southern District of New York requesting an injunction against Lawsky’s efforts. The tribes filing the lawsuit are members of the Native American Financial Services Association (NAFSA).

“Defendant Lawsky and the State of New York have overstepped their bounds with their illegal attacks on our tribes,” said Barry Brandon, Executive Director of the Native American Financial Services Association (NAFSA). “His actions are a flagrant denial of our rights as sovereign entities, and today, we are fighting back to defend these rights.”

“We have enjoyed these sovereign rights for centuries predating even the United States,” Brandon continued. “They have been established and reinforced by Constitutional law, federal legislation, and a long history of legal rulings. Our actions today will protect the sovereign rights of Native American tribes and their wholly-owned businesses from extraterritorial attempts to impose New York State laws on transactions governed by tribal law.”

“This is a straightforward case that is about the real world importance of Native American sovereign rights,” said David Bernick of Boies, Schiller & Flexner, LLP, who serves as Counsel of Record for the action. “Defendant Lawsky knows that he doesn’t have the authority to regulate and limit tribes’ sovereignty, which is why the Department of Financial Services has instead gone after tribes’ banking relationships. Since Defendant Lawsky has turned a blind eye to hundreds of years of precedent, he has left tribes with only one clear path: go to the courts to protect these very old and highly-respected rights.”

The complaint argues that tribes will suffer irreparable injury absent injunctive relief, as Defendant Lawsky’s intimidation tactics against banks and third-party processors have already led to significant harm to tribes’ business relationships. As a result, critical funding for government operations on tribal lands, such as health care, social services, and education will be severely impacted. Funding from these businesses can make up 25% of tribal operating budgets, at a minimum.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe, a federally-recognized Indian Tribe; Great Plains Lending, LLC, a wholly-owned tribal limited liability company; American Web Loan, Inc., a wholly-owned tribal corporation; Otoe-Missouria Consumer Finance Services Regulatory Commission, a tribal regulatory agency; Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, a federally-recognized Indian Tribe; Red Rock Tribal Lending, LLC, a wholly-owned tribal limited liability company; and the Lac Vieux Desert Tribal Financial Services Regulatory Authority, a tribal regulatory agency. Benjamin M. Lawsky, in his individual capacity and in his official capacity as Superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services, has been named as the Defendant.

David Bernick of Boies, Schiller & Flexner, LLP, is serving as Counsel of Record for the action with Robert Rosette serving as co-counsel and attorney representing the two tribes.

About NAFSA

The Native American Financial Services Association (NAFSA) formed in 2012 to advocate for Native American sovereign rights and enable tribes to offer responsible online lending products. Through the protection of consumer rights and sovereign immunity, NAFSA provides vital services to tribally operated lenders serving the under-banked with better short term financial services, furthering economic development opportunities in Indian Country. Continue reading →