Washington Appellate Court Rejects Tribal Immunity in Land Case

Here is the opinion in Smale v. NORTEP, a Washington Court of Appeals (Div. 1) case involving the Stillaguamish Tribe. Here is an excerpt:

The Smales sought to quiet title to property they claimed they had acquired through adverse possession and named Noretep, the original non-Indian owners, as defendants. After the Smales sued, Noretep deeded the disputed property to the Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians (the Tribe), and the Smales named the Tribe as a defendant. In its unsuccessful motion to dismiss, the Tribe claimed that tribal sovereign immunity deprived the superior court of subject matter jurisdiction. Because courts exercise in rem jurisdiction over the property subject to quiet title actions, our Supreme Court has held that transferring the disputed property to a tribal sovereign does not bar the continued exercise of subject matter jurisdiction over the property. Accordingly, we hold that the superior court’s continuing jurisdiction over the land claimed by the Smales for the purposes of determining ownership does not offend the Tribe’s sovereignty.