Here are the materials in Vandever v. Osage Nation Enterprises, out of the Northern District of Oklahoma. The court rejected a magistrate report and recommendation to dismiss an ERISA claim against ONE and the Osage Nation, and also rejected a request by the Nation to require the plaintiff to exhaust tribal court remedies.
tribal court exhaustion doctrine
Coushatta Tribe v. Meyer & Associates Cert Petition
This case involves the question of whether state courts have to comply with the tribal court exhaustion doctrine. Here is the petition — coushatta-tribe-v-meyer-and-assoc-cert-petition
Here is the lower court opinion, from the Louisiana Supreme Court.
CA9 Decides Philip Morris v. King Mountain Tobacco
Here is the opinion from the Ninth Circuit denying that a colorable claim to tribal court jurisdiction existed in this trademark violation issue. And here are the briefs:
Section 1303 Tribal Court Exhaustion — Bercier v. Turtle Mountain Tribal Court
Attorney’s Process and Investigation Services v. Sac and Fox Tribe — Case Reopened
This case arises out of alleged tortious nonmember conduct during the leadership dispute at Meskawki a few years back. In 2005, the Northern District of Iowa applied the tribal court exhaustion doctrine as justification for staying the case (nov-2005-dct-order). The tribal court’s processes have run (motion-to-reopen-case [includes tribal court decision]), and now the case has been reopened (dct-order-reopening-case).
This will be a very interesting application of the Montana test, if the court reaches the merits.
Dollar General v. Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians — Tribal Court Jurisdiction — Updated
The Southern District of Mississippi granted a TRO against the tribal court in a case brought by tribal members against the owner of a Dollar General on tribal trust land. How this case doesn’t meet the Montana 1 test is beyond me.
Here are the materials:
Federal Court Rejects Tribal Court Jurisdiction under VAWA
The Western District of Washington rejected a claim that the Violence Against Women Act confers tribal court jurisdiction over personal protection orders issued against non-Indians. In this case, Martinez v. Martinez, the Suquamish Tribal Court had issued a PPO against a non-Indian man in favor of an Alaskan Native woman. They both lived on non-Indian-owned land on the Port Madison Reservation. The court also ruled that the tribal court exhaustion doctrine does not apply in this case.
Here are the materials:
defendant-martinez-motion-to-dismiss
suquamish-tribe-motion-to-dismiss
plaintiff-martinez-response-to-motions
Lewendowski v. S.W.S.T Fuel — Tribal Court Exhaustion Doctrine
Sad case. This claim arises out of a fire at a foster home at Sisseton that killed several Indian children.
PacificCorp v. Real Bird — No Tribal Court Jurisdiction
This case, out of the District of Montana, involves a trespass claim in Crow Tribal Court by Crow allottees regarding a transmission wire owned by PacificCorp.
pacificorp-motion-for-summary-judgment
Business Law Today Feature on Indian Businesses and Tribal Courts
The ABA’s Business Law Today features several short articles on federal Indian law and business here. Links to the articles are below the fold.
Our mini-theme: Native America
Culture, Business and the Law
The law is a system that provides social cohesion while at the same time revealing much about our culture in a nation of many people and customs. In this issue, we celebrate the Native peoples of our nation, which include Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians.
Few of us have had the opportunity to develop a deep understanding of the people who have lived for centuries in the places we now call home. The articles in this issue are written by lawyers who are part of Native communities and provide unique insight into the interplay between America’s federal, state, and tribal laws.
One author grew up on a reservation, not having seen the ocean on the East or West Coast prior to earning admittance to one of the best, and most elite, undergraduate universities in the country. This author currently spends half the year near the Pacific Ocean and half the year on the reservation. Another author grew to adulthood before learning of the family’s Native culture and beginning a life-altering journey of discovery, which included going through traditional rituals to be formally admitted to the tribe.
While the articles focus on legal, procedural, and business issues implicated when dealing with Native peoples or their lands, they also provide some perspective on the incredible wealth of cultures in this country that is reflected in our legal system.
–Nicole Harris
San Francisco
Deal or no deal?
Understanding Indian Country transactions
By Gabriel S. Galanda and Anthony S. Broadman
Encouraging business with Indian tribes
A brief discussion of the tribal exhaustion doctrine
By Thomas Weathers
Tribal courts and alternative dispute resolution
Mediated settlements and arbitration awards in tribal court
By Pat Sekaquaptewa
Avoiding trouble in paradise
Understanding Hawai`i’s law and indigenous culture
D. Kapua`ala Sproat
Turtle Talk 
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