Pottawatomi

Gun Lake Band’s Gaming Development Partners Seeking to Restructure

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From Station Casinos:

Company Elects Not to Make $14.6 Million Interest Payment On Subordinated Notes As It Launches Plan

Preliminary Fourth Quarter Results Show a 19% Revenue Decline and an Operating Loss of Approximately $2 Million (excluding anticipated impairments); Company Confirms Cash Position of Approximately $350 Million

LAS VEGAS, Feb. 3 /PRNewswire/ — Station Casinos, Inc. (“Station” or the “Company”) today announced that it is soliciting votes from its bondholders in favor of a restructuring plan that the Company’s equity sponsors and lead senior secured lenders have already agreed to support. As part of the restructuring plan, the Company and certain affiliates are offering the bondholders a combination of secured notes and cash in exchange for their outstanding bonds. The purpose of the restructuring plan is to significantly reduce the outstanding principal amount of indebtedness and cash interest expense of the Company.

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Gun Lake Band Parcel Put Into Trust

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From Indianz:


After a lengthy court battle, the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians, also known as the Gun Lake Tribe, finally has a place to call home.

The tribe celebrated after the Bureau of Indian Affairs placed 147 acres into trust. The land was the subject of an anti-gaming lawsuit that ended last week. “Today we rejoice knowing that all our hard work has paid off and the sacrifices of our ancestors was not made in vain,” said Chairman D.K. Sprague. “Now it’s official. Justice has been served to those who were motivated by greed and power to delay this project for nearly ten years.” The tribe plans to build a casino on the site in western Michigan. A press conference will be scheduled in the coming works to announce details.

Get the Story:
Gun Lake tribe says casino land in Wayland has been taken into trust (The Grand Rapids Press 1/30)

Patchak v. Kempthorne TRO Oral Argument Transcript

Matthew L.M. Fletcher3 Comments

Judge Leon ruled from the bench in this case on Monday, denying a TRO motion from Patchak, a member of 23 is Enough and MichGO (although he challenges that last part), to stop the trust acquisition of land in Allegan County for the Gun Lake Band.

Here is the transcript: patchak-v-kempthorne-transcript

Given the judge’s hostility toward Patchak’s attorney and legal positions, occasionally labeling them frivolous, one could argue (I suppose) that a Rule 11 motion could be in order. But I highly doubt that such a motion would be treated favorably by Judge Leon, who does not appear to suffer fools gladly.

Here are the pleadings.

Gun Lake Band Survives Another Court Challenge

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From Western Michigan Business:

A [federal] court judge today dismissed the final legal obstacle to the Gun Lake Band of Pottawatomi Indians‘ casino plans.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon denied former Wayland Township Trustee David Patchak‘s request for a stay blocking the Department of Interior from taking land near Wayland into trust for the Gun Lake Band while the Supreme Court of the United States considers a tribal gaming case in Rhode Island.

The Supreme Court last week refused to hear an appeal by Grand Rapids-based Michigan Gambling Opposition — MichGO — to derail permanently taking the 147 acres into trust for the tribe.

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Gun Lake Band Awaits Ruling in Patchak v. Skibine

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From West Michigan Business:

GRAND RAPIDS — Odds are even the Gun Lake casino will be a winning bet today.

This morning, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon was to hear motions that could once more delay a casino plan, now entering its 10th year of legal maneuvering.

At stake: whether the federal government can turn 147 acres in Wayland Township into tribal land, by placing it in trust.

The U.S. Department of the Interior and the Gun Lake Band of Pottawatomi said last week they would wait until 5 p.m. today before inking the transfer. That is expected to happen if the judge denies motions to delay.

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Patchak v. Skibine — Suit against Gun Lake Trust Acquisition Redux

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here’s the news article about it (via Indianz). The materials are here:

us-motion-to-dismiss

gun-lake-motion-to-dismiss

patchak-motion-for-tro

gun-lake-opposition-to-motion-for-tro

us-opposition-to-motion-for-tro

MichGO Decision — Implications for Carcieri v. Kempthorne?

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Who knows, except the people at the Supreme Court?

One possibility is that the Supreme Court denied cert in MichGO because the Court is going to uphold the Secretary of Interior’s authority to take land into trust for tribes not federally recognized in 1934 (tribes like the Gun Lake Band and the Narragansett Tribe), the key issue in Carcieri. If the Court was to reject the Secretary’s authority in Carcieri, then there would be reason to grant cert in MichGO to correct the lower court’s holding. They might choose to do this through a tool called GVR — Grant, Vacate, and Remand. But if the Court was to affirm the Secretary’s holding, then the lower court decision in MichGO is correct even after Carcieri, and so there’s no reason to review the decision.

However, there might be a problem with this theory; namely (if I am correct), MichGO never once argued that Gun Lake Band is ineligible under Section 5 because it wasn’t recognized in 1934. They did raise it in the cert petition, but one suspects that it’s too late then. MichGO could have raised the question from the outset, because the Narragansett litigation had been ongoing for some time. So maybe that’s why the Court denied cert in MichGO. And, if so, the cert denial offers no clues as to the possible outcome in Carcieri.

Finally, one great bit of news — since the Court denied cert in MichGO, the nondelegation doctrine claim that MichGO brought to the Court once again goes by the wayside (the Court had previously refused to accept this question in Carcieri as well, and in several other cases before that).

MichGO v. Kempthorne Cert Petition Update

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

The Supreme Court granted cert. in four cases today, none of which was the MichGO v. Kempthorne case. We’ll see Monday, perhaps, whether the Court denied cert. There could be a decent chance the Court will put this case on hold under after the Carcieri v. Kempthorne decision is released.

MichGO’s Reply Brief

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

The certiorari stage briefing in Michigan Gambling Opposition v. Kempthorne (No. 08-554) is complete with the filing of the petitioner’s reply brief (here).

Here are the other briefs.

The conference where the Court will discuss this case is January 9.

MichGO v. Kempthorne a “Petition to Watch”

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

SCOTUSblog has listed MichGO v. Kempthorne as a petition to watch (see post here) for the January 9 conference. Here are the briefs, etc.:

Docket: 08-554
Title: Michigan Gambling Opposition v. Kempthorne
Issue: Whether Section 5 of the Indian Reorganization Act, which gives the Secretary of Interior discretion to acquire lands for Native Americans, is an unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority.