Here is Navajo’s latest pleading (limited motion to intervene and motion to dismiss):
FINAL COMBINED NAVAJO NATION AREA IV PLEADINGS
The complaint is here.
economic development
New York City Shows No Injury in Fact in Sale of Unstamped Cigarettes by Day Wholesale
Here is the opinion in City of New York v. Milhelm Attea & Bros. (E.D. N.Y.):
DCT Order Granting Summary J to Day Wholesale
An excerpt:
The City of New York has brought an Amended Complaint against the above-captioned defendants, [2] cigarette wholesalers who are state-licensed cigarette stamping agents. The principal contention of the City is that the wholesalers violated the Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act (“CCTA”), 18 U.S.C. § 2341 et seq., by shipping in excess of 10,000 unstamped cigarettes to Native American reservation retailers who re-sold the cigarettes to the public. According to the City, the former version New York Tax Law § 471 applied a tax to cigarettes sold to reservation retailers for re-sale to the public, and the defendant agents violated that provision by distributing large quantities of cigarettes to reservation retailers without purchasing and affixing the requisite state tax stamps. The City currently seeks civil penalties or disgorgement of profits pursuant to the CCTA, and also brings state law claims for public nuisance and violations of the Cigarette Marketing Standards Act (“CMSA”), New York Tax Law § 484. The parties have engaged in multiple rounds of motion practice, as well as some discovery, and now cross-move for summary judgment.
The defendants’ principal contentions are that the City lacks standing to pursue this action against them, that they were not legally required to [3] affix state tax stamps to the cigarettes at issue, and that they lack the requisite scienter for liability. The City counters that the defendants’ arguments can all be rejected as a matter of law, and that there are no outstanding issues of material fact regarding its entitlement to monetary relief under the CCTA.
For the reasons stated below, the Court grants summary judgment to Day Wholesale, Inc. on the grounds that the City has failed to put forth sufficient evidence that it suffered an injury-in-fact from Day’s sales of unstamped cigarettes. The Court concludes that the City is entitled to summary judgment on the issue of the liability of defendants Gutlove & Shirvint, Inc. and Mauro Pennisi, Inc. for CCTA violations, and that some amount of civil penalties is appropriate. The Court will hold a further hearing for the purpose of assessing the penalty amount. The Court denies the cross-motions as to the City’s CMSA claim, and deems the public nuisance claim withdrawn.
Abritrator Awards More than $28 Million to Grand Canyon Skywalk in Dispute with Hualapai Nation
Seattle Weekly: Fish vs. Farms on the Skagit Delta
Here.
An excerpt:
The Skagit delta farming system’s intricate rotation of some 80 vegetable and seed crops has been 150 years in the making. Dikes to keep the low-lying farmland dry and tide gates to prevent saltwater incursion into croplands are valuable to farmers, but not so much to Natives trying to revive salmon runs on the third largest American river on the contiguous West Coast.
The Swinomish Tribe’s priority is fish, not farms. And a century and a half of treaty law has put in their hands considerable power to press their case. In 1855, territorial Governor Isaac Stevens negotiated with western Washington tribes, trying to coax them into giving up millions of acres of land and retreat to reservations with prescribed boundaries. The Treaty of Point Elliott, signed by tribal leaders at a place later known as Mukilteo, included a guarantee of perpetual fishing rights. The treaty included this language: “The right of taking fish, at all usual and accustomed grounds and stations, is further secured to said Indians in common with all other citizens of the Territory, and of erecting temporary houses for the purpose of curing them, together with the privileges of hunting, gathering roots and berries, and pasturing their horses on open and unclaimed lands.”
Update in Grand Canyon Skywalk Development v. ‘Sa’ Nyu Wa: Complete Ninth Circuit Briefing
Here are the briefs (argument is October 19, 2012):
Lower court materials here.
NYTs on Fracking Controversy at Blackfeet
Here.
Blast from the Past: 2007 Tribal Motions in Early Stages of Colorado v. Cash Advance
American Property Mgmt. Cal. SCT Petition for Review in Tribal Immunity Case
Western Sky Financial Effort to Litigate Maryland Consumer Investigation in Federal Court Fails
Here are the materials in Western Sky Financial LLC v. Maryland Commissioner of Financial Regulation (D. Md.):
DCT Order Remanding Case to State Court
Maryland CFR Motion to Dismiss
Here is our post on the state court case, ongoing.
Tenth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Title VII Claims against Tribal Corporation
Here is today’s opinion in Somerlott v. Cherokee Nation Distributors. Judge Gorsuch’s concurring opinion (starting at page 21) is a worthy read for tribal leaders and tribal counsel thinking about doing business outside of Indian country.
Briefs are here.
Excerpt here:
Tina Marie Somerlott appeals from the district court’s dismissal of her claims against CND, LLC (“CND”) for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1). Somerlott brought federal employment discrimination claims against CND, alleging violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. After allowing discovery by both parties, the district court concluded CND was immune from suit under the doctrine of tribal sovereign immunity and, therefore, dismissed Somerlott’s complaint in its entirety. Exercising jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291,
this court affirms.
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