Federal Court Dismisses Contract Action against New Mexico Pueblo Consortium

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Back in April 2015….

Here are the materials in Corabi v. ENPIC Inc. (D. N.M.):

6 Motion to Dismiss

8 Opposition

10 Reply

13 DCT Order

Navajo Nation Amicus Brief in Harris v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here:

Navajo Amicus Brief in Harris v Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission

California Court of Appeals Decides Against Tribal Enterprise in Contract Dispute

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the unpublished opinion in 29 Palms Enterprises v. Cadmus Construction:

29 Palms Enterprises v Cadmus Construction

Petition for Hearing in Torres v. Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here:

Petition for Rehearing

Cert petition has already been denied, here.

South Dakota SCT Decides Matter Involving Shannon County (Pine Ridge) Jury Pools

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the opinion in Good Lance v. Black Hills Dialysis (S.D.). From the opinion:

Vera Good Lance sued Black Hills Dialysis, LLC and LeEtta Brewer (collectively, BHD) for negligence after suffering an injury from a fall while at BHD’s facility in Shannon County on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.1 A dispute arose between the parties about whether the circuit court should summon jurors from Shannon County or neighboring Fall River County. A 2009 standing order issued by the Seventh Circuit Presiding Judge required that all cases filed in Shannon County be venued in Fall River County. In accordance with this order, the circuit court ruled that it would summon Fall River County jurors. Good Lance, through her estate’s administrator Hilda Kills Small, requested this intermediate appeal. We reverse and remand for further proceedings.

 

“Nooksack tribal members facing disenrollment win records fight”

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

News coverage from the Bellingham Herald here.

Materials on the St. Germain v. DOI case here.

Mashpee Casino Land Deal in E. Taunton, MA Finalized

Ann Tweedy

The Mashpee Tribe is planning to locate its casino in Taunton, a struggling city in Southeastern Massachusetts, the city where my grandparents lived in fact. The land deal was just finalized. It sounds like the economic development will be a win-win for the Tribe and the Taunton. Here’s the Taunton Daily Gazette story. Previous coverage here.

MSU/TICA Ethics Panel

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

John Petoskey, Bryan Newland, Monte Mills, and Paul Spruhan

  

Ninth Circuit Decides Tohono O’Odham Nation v. State of Arizona

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the opinion. From the court’s syllabus:

The panel affirmed the district court’s summary judgment in an action challenging the constitutionality of H.B. 2534, an Arizona law that allows a city or town within populous counties to annex certain surrounding, unincorporated lands.

The Tohono O’odham Nation purchased unincorporated land in Maricopa County, Arizona. The Nation alleged that H.B. 2534 was enacted in order to block the federal government from taking the land it purchased into trust on behalf of the Nation, a process that would render the land part of the Nation’s reservation pursuant to the Gila Bend Indian Reservation Lands Replacement Act. H.B. 2534 was enacted after the Nation announced its intention to build a casino on “Parcel 2” of the land, and after the Secretary of the Interior decided to take Parcel 2 into trust.

The panel affirmed the district court’s holding that H.B. 2534 is preempted by the Gila Bend Indian Reservation Lands Replacement Act because it stands as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of the Act namely, to enable the Secretary to take Parcel 2 into trust and thereby incorporate the land into tribal land. 

The panel concluded that under H.B. 2534, the City of Glendale, Arizona, purportedly had the authority ̄at the point when the Nation filed a trust application ̄to preemptively annex unincorporated land and effectively block the trust application.
The panel thus affirmed the legality of the Secretary’s taking of Parcel 2 into trust pursuant to the Act. It did not reach the Nation’s other challenges to H.B. 2534.

Briefs here. Lower court materials here.

Obama Rejects Keystone Pipeline Proposal

Teresa Walrod

From the New York Times:

President Obama on Friday announced that he had rejected the request from a Canadian company to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline, ending a seven-year review that had become a flash point in the debate over his climate policies.

Article is here.