Eighth Circuit – Page 7

Does the Bracker test currently serve as a consistent and predictable rule of law in light of the exponential expansion of Indian gaming since 1988 and the fiscal demands the industry now places on state budgets?

Lower court materials here.

Eighth Circuit Briefs in City of Council Bluffs v. Dept. of Interior

February 17, 2020Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here:

Appellants Brief

Addendum

Federal Appellee Brief

Ponca Tribe Amicus Brief

Lower court materials here.

Eighth Circuit Decides Enerplus Resources (USA) Corporation v. Wilkinson II

January 14, 2020Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the unpublished opinion.

Briefs:

Appellant Brief

Appellee Brief

Prior posts here.

OSHA Petition for Review of Decision re: Red Lake Nation Fisheries [Eighth Circuit]

November 7, 2019December 4, 2020Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the petition:

OSHA Petition + ALJ Decision

Here are the briefs:

SCOTUS Denies Cert in Oglala Sioux Tribe v. Fleming

October 7, 2019October 7, 2019Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is today’s order list.

Cert petition and lower court materials here.

Split Eighth Circuit Panel Holds Tax on Casino Patrons is Preempted by IGRA

September 6, 2019Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the opinion in Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe v. Noem (No. 18-1271).

Briefs here.

Split Eighth Circuit Panel Holds State Tax on Nonmember Contractor is not Preempted by IGRA

September 6, 2019Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the opinion in Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe v. Haeder (No. 18-2750).

Briefs here.

Eighth Circuit Decides Kodiak Oil & Gas (USA) Inc. v. Burr]

August 5, 2019Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

Excerpt:

A dispute over the practice of flaring natural gas from oil wells fuels the legal controversy in this case: the scope of Native American tribal court authority over nonmembers. Several members of the MHA Nation sued numerous non-tribal oil and gas companies in MHA tribal court. Those companies operate oil wells on lands within the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation that have been allotted to individual tribe members but are held in trust by the federal government. The tribe members alleged the companies owed royalties from wastefully-flared gas. Some of these companies unsuccessfully contested the tribal court’s jurisdiction over them in tribal court. Then they initiated this action in federal court to enjoin the tribal court plaintiffs and tribal court judicial officials. The district court issued a preliminary injunction, and the tribal court plaintiffs and officials separately appealed. We affirm the injunction because we conclude suits over oil and gas leases on allotted trust lands are governed by federal law, not tribal law, and the tribal court lacks jurisdiction over the nonmember oil and gas companies.

Briefs here.