We previously posted on a South Dakota Supreme Court decision in South Dakota v. Grand River Enterprises here. Here are the briefs:
taxation
Motion for Reconsideration Denied in Milhelm Attea Case
Here is the opinion denying the motion for reconsideration — milhelm-attea-dct-order
Here are the earlier materials.
NYTs Article on Poospatuck Cigarette Sales
From the NYTs:
MASTIC, N.Y. — Down by the lapping waters of Great South Bay, the Indian chief stared up at the trees swaying in the wind. Then he squinted: Was that a surveillance camera on top of that utility pole?
Probably not, but Harry Wallace, chief of the Unkechaug Nation, says he has good reason to be watching his back — and his tribe’s — closely.
He and several other owners of shops that sell cigarettes on the tiny Poospatuck reservation on the South Shore of Long Island, where the Unkechaugs are based, have been sued by the City of New York. The city claims that this Indian enclave — the closest reservation to New York City — has become a “tax evasion haven” and a drain on the city’s coffers.
Arizona State Bar Indian Law Section Newsletter — Fall 2008
“The Arrow” — arizona-indian-law-fall-08
Highlights:
A Substantial Burden: Navajo Nation v. United States Forest Serv., 535 F.3d 1058 (9th Cir. 2008)
Indian Law Section 2008-2009 Writing Competition Call for Entries
Barona v. Yee: State Taxation of Tribal Construction Projects
NYTs on NYC v. Poospatuck Smokeshops
From the NYTs:
Bootleg cigarette traffic from Long Island’s tiny Poospatuck reservation to New York City is brisk, so much so that some cigarette dealers on the reservation don’t even bother to set up storefronts, according to a motion filed in federal court on Tuesday.
Instead, the dealers take telephone orders for bulk shipments of untaxed cigarettes. Millions of them are delivered to the city by van and distributed through an underground network that dramatically undercuts tax collection, the city alleged.
The Bloomberg administration asked a federal judge in Brooklyn to bar the reservation’s eight largest dealers from selling untaxed cigarettes to the public. Those dealers, named as defendants in a federal lawsuit filed by the city last month, control 95 percent of the sales on the reservation, the city said.
Officials estimate that untaxed cigarette sales by the eight dealers have cut city revenues by nearly $195 million a year, an amount the city can ill afford during a financial crisis. In addition, bootleg cigarette traffic undermines a Bloomberg administration anti-smoking campaign.
South Dakota v. Grand River Enterprises — State Long Arm Statute Does Not Reach All Tribal Enterprises
Here is the South Dakota Supreme Court’s decision in State v. Grand River Enterprises. From the opinion:
Grand River Enterprises Six Nations Ltd. (Grand River), a Canadian cigarette manufacturer, moved the circuit court to vacate three default judgments arising out of the sale of cigarettes in the State of South Dakota. Grand River argued that the circuit court lacked personal jurisdiction because Grand River had not purposefully availed itself of the South Dakota market sufficient to permit jurisdiction under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. After an evidentiary hearing on the merits of the jurisdictional issue, the circuit court granted the motions. We affirm.
County Taxation of Mixed-Ownership Tribal Enterprise
The Western District of Washington denied a motion for a preliminary injunction brought by the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation to prevent Thurston County, Washington from taxing a business (a Great Wolf Lodge) jointly owned by a non-native corporation and the tribes.
US v. Fiander — CA9 Reverses Dismissal of RICO Claims against Yakama Member
The Ninth Circuit held in U.S. v. Fiander that a Yakama tribal member who cannot be convicted of violating the Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act because of the “right to travel” provision of the Yakama treaty can still be prosecuted for conspiracy under RICO.
[Fiander response brief unavailable]
US v. Mahoney — CA9 Affirms Cigarette Trafficking Conviction
This case involves a Coeur d’Alene Tribe member who violated the federal Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act.
Oklahoma v. Native Wholesale Supply: Smokeshop Case Remanded to State Court
The Western District of Oklahoma granted the State of Oklahoma’s motion to remand an Indian taxation case back to state court after the tribally owned business removed the case to federal court. Ah, the well-pleaded complaint rule, not one of my favorites.
native-wholesale-supply-notice-of-removal
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