Here are the materials in Garland v. Choctaw Casino (E.D. Okla.), dismissed on sovereign immunity grounds:
gaming
Stroud v. Armenta — Employment Claim Dismissed in State Court on Sovereign Immunity Grounds
Here are the materials in Stroud v. Armenta (opinion here), an unpublished case decided by the California Court of Appeals involving the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians:
Sault Tribe to Vote on Chairman/CEO Separation
From AIPBlog:
Tonight the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians voted to have a referendum to change the Tribes Constitutional By-Laws and Separate the Chairman/CEO position into two distinct positions: one elected and one otherwise.
AIPBlog followers realize I have advocated this type of separation and cited several academic studies which indicate more positive outcomes from separating politics and business in Tribes. It is a pleasure as a member of the Sault Tribe to see some action in this direction.
Op-Ed on Pokagon Band Revenue Sharing
From Indianz:
“The release of $6.2 million in revenue sharing from the Four Winds Casino to local governmental units this month was welcome news. The schools, libraries, New Buffalo township and city, Berrien County, as well as the state of Michigan, sorely need the funds that had been accruing since the Pokagon band of the Potawatomi Indians opened the New Buffalo casino in 2007. This first revenue sharing payment was nearly a year and a half overdue. Meanwhile, the entities kept anteing up services, including police protection and road work, to support the gaming operation. This month’s distribution of funds ought to be the start of something good for both the Pokagons and the community. The cash-strapped governmental units should now receive an annual infusion of money to provide needed services. And those entities that helped establish the Four Winds will have good reason to support the Pokagons’ enterprise. ”
Get the Story:
Editorial: Governmental units win with casino payout (The South Bend Tribune 5/19)
Menominee Sues Interior over Off-Reservation Gaming
Here’s the news article, via Penchanga, with an excerpt:
The Menominee Nation has filed a lawsuit that seeks to overturn the U.S. Department of the Interior’s decision to block the tribe from building a casino at Dairyland Greyhound Park.
The tribe filed the suit in the U.S. District Court in Green Bay on Friday against the U.S. Department of the Interior and Kenneth Salazar, current secretary of that department. The lawsuit asks the court to declare a January 2009 denial of the Menominee’s land-into-trust application to create a casino at Dairyland as invalid and unlawful and to overturn that decision.
And the complaint — Menominee II Complaint
Greektown Update — Court Grants Motion to Assume Development Contract with City
Here’s the news article explaining all of this (link to Freep article). And here are the materials:
API v. Sac & Fox — Cross-Motions Pending
The case is ATTORNEY’S PROCESS AND INVESTIGATION SERVICES, INC. v. SAC & FOX TRIBE OF THE MISSISSIPPI IN IOWA.
After having been reopened (see our post here), post-tribal remedies exhaustion, the tribe filed a motion to dismiss, and the plaintiffs filed a motion for summary judgment. Both are pending after the court’s order to allow amendment of some of the pleadings.
API Resistance to Motion to Dismiss
Early Analysis of the Internet Gaming Regulatory Bill
H.R. 2267 has some very interesting tidbits in it. Section 5486(C) states:
No decision by a State under this subsection shall be considered in making any determination with regard to the ability of an Indian tribe to offer any class of gambling activity pursuant to section 11 of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. [page 40 of the bill]
Does this mean that Indian tribes can conduct internet gaming without a Class III gaming compact? If so, it might obviate the need for Indian tribes to seek off-reservation gaming opportunities. Why spend time, money, and effort to acquire lands near a metropolitan area, cut a deal with the local units of government and the state’s governor (and legislature), and persuade the Secretary of Interior to take the land into trust for gaming purposes … when the tribe can conduct internet gaming on-reservation? There are, after all, far more potential customers on the internet than in Detroit, or Milwaukee, or the Catskills, or San Francisco.
Rep. Frank Introduces Internet Gaming Regulatory Bill
Here is the bill — HR 2267
We haven’t read it yet, but it will definitely affect Indian Country.
Here’s an interesting excerpt:
(b) Indian Tribe Opt-Out Exercise-
Fort Independence Indian Community v. California — IGRA Good Faith Lawsuit
So far, this case hasn’t proceeded very far, but the question of whether the court will use by analogy the good faith negotiation requirement under the National Labor Relations Act in this Indian Gaming Regulatory Act case has been decided:
In interpreting this good faith standard, courts have taken some guidance from cases interpreting negotiation obligations imposed by the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”). Indian Gaming Related Cases v. California, (Coyote Valley I) 147 F.Supp.2d 1011, 1020-21 (N.D.Cal.2001), affirmed by Coyote Valley II, 331 F.3d 1094. However, the NLRA and IGRA differ in some important aspects. For example, claims of bad faith negotiation under the NLRA are first reviewed by an administrative agency (the National Labor Review Board), see Nat’l Labor Relations Bd. v. Tomco Communications, Inc., 567 F.2d 871, 876 (9th Cir.1978). Under the IGRA, the initial determination is made by the court. Thus, while the NLRA caselaw provides some useful guidance, courts have not applied it to the IGRA “wholesale.” Coyote Valley I, 147 F.Supp.2d at 1021.
Here is the order — DCT Order on Motion to Compel (and the magistrate’s order before that — Magistrate Order on Motion to Compel).
Fort Independence has a motion for summary judgment pending (Fort Independence Motion for Summary Judgment). California’s response is due next week. Still waiting on an 11th Amendment motion. Maybe I missed something….
Turtle Talk 
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