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| LITIGATION |
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When confronted with funding cuts, gaming disputes, or attacks on jurisdiction, tribal governments often have no choice but to enforce or defend their sovereign rights in the courts or before federal agencies. Our Firm has represented tribes and tribal organizations in federal and state courts throughout the country and before most federal administrative boards that have jurisdiction over Indian Affairs. CONTACT: |
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Achievements and Actions • Established the right to money damages for breach of trust duty in the landmark case of Mitchell v. United States, 463 U.S. 206 (1983), an action for mismanagement of tribal timber resources. The case settled for $27 million • Obtained a rare congressional reference to the United States Court of Federal Claims to seek monetary relief for a Tribe that was terminated in the 1950s. The Court ruled in a way that led to a $32 million settlement to the Tribe. Menominee Tribe v. United States. • Successfully established, with the United States, the right of tribal health contractors to collect third-party reimbursements. United States and Norton Sound Health Corp. v. Bering Strait School District. • Upheld tribal court jurisdiction by obtaining a federal court order requiring a non-Indian company to exhaust tribal remedies in a taxation dispute. Reservation Telephone Cooperative v. Three Affiliated Tribes. • Defeated attempts by Florida to enforce state gaming laws on a Tribe without the benefit of a tribal-state compact permitting such enforcement. Seminole Tribe v. Florida. • Defeated attempt by State of Florida to sue Seminole Tribe by successful assertion of tribal sovereign immunity. Florida v. Seminole Tribe. • NIGC opinion that Tab Force pulltab device is Class II game, the first time the NIGC recognized an electronic aid for pulltab game. • On-going representation of Tribe in land claim under the Non-Intercourse Act, a case in which we persuaded the federal government to intervene on behalf of the Tribe. St. Regis Mohawk Tribe v. New York. • Prevented the federal government from enforcing criminal gaming laws against a tribe in a civil injunction action. United States v. Menominee Tribe. |
Courts • This Firm has represented clients before the United States Supreme Court, the Federal Circuit and other Courts of Appeal, and federal district courts. We also have extensive experience before the Court of Federal Claims, the court that has jurisdiction over large money claims against the federal government. We also have handled litigation in Tribal and State courts. Administrative Boards • Our Firm frequently represents clients in government agency proceedings. • Self-determination and self-governance agreements disputes before the Interior Board of Contract Appeals • Disputes concerning agency action and Self-Determination Declination appeals before the Interior Board of Indian Appeals • Federal land disputes before the Interior Board of Land Appeals • Enforcement actions before the National Indian Gaming Commission • Disputes concerning education funding under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act and the Tribally Controlled Schools Act • Tax rulings from the Internal Revenue Service Other Achievements And Actions • Co-counsel in the first post-IGRA case to be heard in the U.S. Supreme Court. Seminole Tribe v. Florida. • IBIA ruling that P.L. 93-638 applies to non-reservation area permitting nearby tribes to sanction "638" contract. Rapid City Indian Health Board v. IHS. • IBIA ruling that land acquisition under a restoration act was ministerial and that NEPA did not apply. Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpaqua and Suislaw v. Area Director. |
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