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Professor of Law & Director regarding the Indigenous Law & Policy Center, Michigan State University
Disclosure statement
Matthew L.M. Fletcher works well with eight Indian tribes being an appellate judge (Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Hoopa Valley Tribe, Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, Nottawaseppi Huron Band regarding the Potawatomi, Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians, Poarch Band of Creek Indians, Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, and Santee Sioux Tribe). He’s connected to the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians being an enrolled user.
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Accidents happen. And quite often those accidents include the staff of Indian tribes. The Supreme Court is planned to listen to situation that may rule in the the restrictions of appropriate resistance of tribes and their workers. The case could expose Indian tribes to unexpected – and significant – liability in state and federal courts to which tribes are strangers although it deals with a narrow question in a personal injury lawsuit.
In Lewis v. Clarke 
, the Supreme Court will deal with whether a tribal casino worker – in this instance, a limo driver – could be sued for an accident that took place whilst the worker ended up being regarding the clock but away from Indian lands.
As a scholar, We have examined the complexities of tribal immunity that is sovereign tribal government-owned organizations while the unique challenges Indian tribes face in federal and state courts. My research leads us to think the end result of this full case is essential as it could set a precedent that could damage tribes’ ability to govern.
The backdrop
In belated 2011, a Mohegan Sun Casino limousine motorist rear-ended Brian and Michelle Lewis’ car on I-95 near Norwalk, Connecticut, injuring the few when you look at the collision. Generally, under Connecticut legislation, hurt folks have 2 yrs to register an injury that is personal in state court.
Under Mohegan legislation, nevertheless, the statute of limits duration is certainly one 12 months, perhaps not two.
For reasons not clear within the general public record, the Lewis couple failed to bring a suit until couple of years following the incident, in 2013. Because it ended up being far too late to sue in tribal court, they brought the suit to Connecticut courts.
And here’s the rub, legitimately speaking: Indian tribes may not be sued in state court without their permission. This provision is what’s known as “sovereign immunity. ” Us constitutional legislation teaches that federal and state governments can not be sued in court absent their consent, a doctrine that predates the synthesis of the Constitution. Certainly, Alexander Hamilton’s Federalist Paper No. 81 put down this concept in 1788.
Counsel when it comes to Lewis couple most most likely knew tribes take pleasure in the exact same immunity and decided to sue the limo motorist alternatively for the tribe, the driver’s company at the time of the collision.
Accidental injury lawyers have a tendency to seek out deep pouches that may spend a million buck judgment,
So a suit against a limo motorist does not appear to be an absolute strategy if the objective is just a payout that is large. It seems the Lewises’ attorney thinks the tribe shall step up in order to make good a judgment against its worker.
That lawyer might be appropriate. For company reasons, in the event that Mohegan tribe desires to retain good workers, it might be forced to spend money damages awarded by a us state court, as one tribe argued in an early on instance. In cases where a tribe does not provide appropriate protections to a member of staff, much the way in which other organizations would, it might have chilling impact by exposing workers to undue danger.
The Mohegan Sun is among the two biggest tribal-owned gambling enterprises in the usa. AP Photo/Jessica Hill