tribal appellate court

Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Pottawatomi — Notice for Appellate Justices

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here:

Appellate Justices 8.2013

From the notice (read the notice for other details):

The Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians (Gun Lake Tribe) is seeking three (3) Appellate Justices to serve as the Court of Appeals body of the Tribe. The authority of the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi/Gun Lake Tribal Court of Appeals is defined by Gun Lake Tribal Judicial Ordinance. The Court of Appeals has jurisdiction to hear all appeals arising from Tribal Court decisions or proceedings.

The Court of Appeals shall consist of three (3) Justices, each appointed by majority vote of the Tribal Council at a meeting at which a required quorum plus one additional Tribal Council member is present. At least two (2) of those Justices shall be attorneys who are or have been licensed to practice law before the courts of a state in the United States and who have not been disbarred from practicing law in any tribal, federal, or state court, provided, however, that if a person has been disbarred but later reinstated, such person shall be eligible. The other Justice shall be either a registered voter of the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians or an attorney who is, or has been, licensed to practice law before the courts of a state in the United States and who has not been disbarred from practicing law in any tribal, federal, or state court, provided, however, that if a person has been disbarred but later reinstated, such person shall be eligible. No Court of Appeals Justice may sit simultaneously as a Tribal Court Judge. Each Court of Appeals Justice shall be at least twenty-five (25) years of age.

Farmers Union Oil v. Guggolz — Plains Commerce Bank Redux

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

This is a case before the same trial judge as in Plains Commerce Bank in the D.S.D. This one is a slip and fall, but Farmers Union Oil the defendant in tribal court at Standing Rock. The judge followed Plains Commerce Bank and many other similar decisions in requiring the exhaustion of tribal court remedies, but then he took an unfortunate potshot at the CA8 opinion in Plains Commerce Bank:

I have previously cited in this order and opinion the case of Plains Commerce. I was the trial judge in that case. The case was affirmed on appeal by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. As I read the appellate opinion, I was struck by the fact that such opinion would clearly and substantially broaden the jurisdiction of tribal courts in the Eighth Circuit. It would allow tribal courts to decide what common law principles were to be applied in tribal courts. This would be a significant expansion of tribal court jurisdiction in civil cases. In the past few days, I have noted that the United States Supreme Court has granted the petition of Plains Commerce for a writ of certiorari. Apparently, we will have further guidance from the Supreme Court.

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