State Supreme Court Rules Coushatta Can Be Sued in State Court

The Louisiana Supreme Court has ruled that the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana waived its sovereign immunity and can be sued in state court rather than tribal court. The state’s high court, overturning an appellate court’s decision, ruled that the exhaustion doctrine does not apply when bringing suit against a tribe in state court. The court ruled that an agreement signed by the tribe contained an explicit waiver of sovereign immunity and that issue of whether immunity was waived rightfully belongs in state court.

Washington Supreme Court to Review Tribal Sovereignty Case

Without comment, the Washington State Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal from Division Two of the Washington Court of Appeals regarding a tort suit against the Puyallup tribe. At issue is whether the Puyallup tribe waived its sovereign immunity when it agreed to cooperate with the state to collect sales tax on liquor sales at its casino, thereby exposing itself to tort claims arising from the sale of that liquor. The case revolves around the injuries suffered by a driver on the Puyallup reservation. The driver was struck by another car, driven by someone who was intoxicated and who had been drinking at the Puyallup casino. The trial court granted the tribe’s motion to dismiss the case on the ground that the Indian tribe was entitled to sovereign immunity. Now the state Supreme Court seems to want to open the case up again and make a ruling of its own and that can’t be good for the tribe. The original case that forms the basis for the appeal is Foxworthy v. Puyallup Tribe, 141 Wn. App. 221.

The Clean Water Act’s Waiver of Sovereign Immunity

In an apparent whistle-blower action, the former head of public works for the Viejas Indian Tribe is asking for $3 million in damages and his old job back, because, he says, he was fired after complaining that a tribal elder's cattle were polluting a creek that drains into the Loveland Reservoir. The courts have ruled that under the provisions of the Clean Water Act, tribes cannot get the suit dismissed by claiming sovereign immunity.

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, Jamal Kanj, 50, was fired in 2005, but tribal officials say it was because of his poor work. Lawyers for the tribe tried to get the case thrown out, claiming sovereign immunity, but the Department of Labor has held -- and the courts have affirmed -- that Congress abrogated tribal immunity with regard to the whistle-blower sanctions of the Clean Water Act. In Osage Tribal Council v. Department of Labor, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that since Congress included tribal governments within the definition of municipalities, they were subject to the whistle-blower provisions of the act just as municipalities are.