sovereign immunity – Page 33

1. Does a misrepresentation about the true identity of the owner of a business during settlement negotiations to resolve a civil lawsuit constitute a scheme to defraud the litigant of money or property in violation of the mail and wire fraud statutes?

2. Is the doctrine of tribal sovereign immunity wholly inapplicable in a circumstance where payday loans are made by a Native American tribe in affiliation with an entity acting as an “arm of the tribe” where such loans are made at interest rates in excess of state regulations, thus rendering the loans ipso facto unlawful debts in violation of the RICO statute?

3. Does the government have to prove willfulness to establish a RICO conspiracy to collect an unlawful debt?

Lower court materials here.

Federal Court Holds Hualapai Business Immune From Suit

March 8, 2020Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are the materials in Zhang v. Grand Canyon Resort Corp. (C.D. Cal.):

57-first-amended-complaint.pdf

60-1-motion-to-dismiss.pdf

Arizona SCT Holds Tribal Company Did Not Establish Status as Subordinate Entity and Was Not Entitled to Immunity

February 25, 2020Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the opinion in Hwal’Bay Ba J Enterprises v. Jantzen:

hwalbay-v.-jantzen-ariz-2020.pdf

An excerpt:

An Indian tribe’s “subordinate economic organization” serves as an “arm of the tribe” and therefore shares its sovereign immunity. This tort case affords us an opportunity to identify factors courts should examine to decide whether a tribal entity serves in that capacity. After doing so, we conclude the tribal entity here did not prove it is a subordinate economic organization entitled to share the tribe’s immunity, and the superior court therefore did not err by denying the entity’s motion to dismiss.

Briefs are here.

Native Wholesale Supply v. California ex rel. Becerra Cert Petition

February 10, 2020July 27, 2020Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here:

Native Wholesale Petition

Appendix

Questions presented:

1. Whether a contract for the purchase of goods entered into, and fully performed by, an Indian Tribe outside the exterior boundaries of the state in which the Tribe’s reservation is located can constitutionally subject the out of state vendor to the specific personal jurisdiction of the buyer’s state, under state laws purporting to regulate the sale of those goods in the buyer’s state.
2. Whether a state has specific personal jurisdiction to regulate a purchase of goods contract between an Indian on an Indian reservation outside the state and an Indian Tribe located within the state’s boundaries when the contract is performed on the
out of state Indian reservation.
3. Whether there is a constitutional or statutory right afforded to an Indian of one tribe to conduct business free from state regulation with an Indian of a different tribe, both of which are located in Indian country, under the Indian Commerce Clause.
4. Whether a tribally chartered corporation wholly owned by a member of a federally recognized Indian Tribe is an Indian for purposes of the protections afforded to Indians under federal law.

Lower court materials here.

Update:

Brief in Opposition

Plaintiff’s Counsel in Frivolous False Claims Act Suit Brought by Former Sauk-Siuattle Employee Sanctioned for More than $10K

February 7, 2020Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are the new materials in Dahlstrom v. United States (W.D. Wash.):

118 Motion to Amend

119 DCT Order

Prior posts here.

Pinoleville Pomo Nation v. JW Gaming Development LLC Cert Petition

February 6, 2020Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here:

petition-for-a-writ-of-certiorari.pdf

appendix.pdf

Question presented:

Whether an Indian tribe’s governing body can be stripped of its sovereign immunity from suit for actions taken by its members in their official capacities, as long as a plaintiff merely names the members individually and those officials will be bound by any judgment entered.

Lower court materials here.