Crow Creek Sioux Tribe

Crow Creek Sioux Tribe Settles IRS Dispute

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

News article here (prior legal materials here) (h/t Pechanga and Indianz):

The Crow Creek Sioux Tribe has settled its tax debt with the Internal Revenue Service and lined up a loan that will enable it to buy back the 11 square miles of land the IRS sold at auction in December, the tribal chairman said.

A stipulation filed in court last week indicates the tribe will dismiss its lawsuit, which sought to prevent the IRS from selling the Hyde County land. That will cancel a May 4 trial.

The IRS took the unusual step of seizing and selling the land because the tribe refused to pay $3.12 million in employment taxes, penalties and interest it racked up since 2001.

At $2.58 million, the winning bid did not fully satisfy the debt. But tribal chairman Brandon Sazue, who met with government officials in Washington last week, said the IRS is forgiving what’s left.

“We don’t owe the IRS anything at this point in time, as long as we drop the lawsuit,” Sazue said. Continue reading →

ICWA Applies to Juvenile Proceedings Involving Foster Care in California

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the California Court of Appeals (3rd Dist.) opinion in R.R. v. Superior Court. An excerpt:

We disagree with the juvenile court’s conclusion. While ICWA may not by its own terms apply to a juvenile delinquency case in which the case plan anticipates foster care placement, the California Legislature has expressly made the inquiry and notice requirements of ICWA applicable in such cases, and impliedly made the remaining ICWA requirements applicable in such cases as well. Because ICWA sets the minimum standards for the protection of Indian children with respect to their tribal relationships, California law imposing a higher standard is not inconsistent with the purpose of the federal law, and is not preempted.

Crow Creek Sioux Tribe Fails to Save LeMaster Ranch

Matthew L.M. Fletcher9 Comments

Here is the news article on the IRS plans to auction off the LeMaster Ranch, formerly owned by the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe. And here is the Tribe’s motion for a TRO that apparently failed yesterday:

Crow Creek Sioux Tribe Motion for TRO

An excerpt from the article:

The Internal Revenue Service plans to auction land on one of America’s poorest Indian reservations today, after efforts Wednesday to block the sale in U.S. District Court failed.

According to a federal lawsuit filed by the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, the IRS intends to auction the land to settle delinquent federal employment taxes it maintains are owed by the tribe.

On Wednesday, a judge denied the restraining order seeking to block the sale, but, according to Terry Pechota, the attorney for Crow Creek Tribal Farms, the judge indicated that he would set the case for trial.

The auction will occur, but no land would change hands until after a court date in late March, said Duane St. John, a member of the tribal council.

The tribe has been planning to develop wind energy, and “this is our prime wind energy land,” St. John said. “So that’s going to be another big hurt to us.”

NYTs Feature on Indian Country Murder and Iraq War Vets

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the NYTs:

“This is really a tale of two places,” James Gregg’s lawyer said during his opening statement in 2005 in the federal courthouse in Pierre, S.D.: the Crow Creek Indian Reservation where the killing took place and “a very, very faraway” place, “a place called Iraq.”

By framing the case this way from the start, the lawyer, Timothy J. Rensch, made it clear that Mr. Gregg’s explanation for the “murder in Indian country,” as the charge read, would be inextricably bound to his year as a National Guardsman in Iraq.

Continue reading →