Case Summary
Issue:
Whether Indian tribal courts have subject matter jurisdiction to adjudicate civil tort claims as an “other means” of regulating the conduct of a non-member bank owning fee-land on a reservation that entered into a private commercial agreement with a member-owned corporation?
Plaintiff:
Plains Commerce Bank
Defendant:
Long Family Land & Cattle Co., Inc., Ronnie Long, Lila Long
Amicus Curiae:
Mountain States Legal Foundation
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Case History
Plains Commerce Bank made operating loans to the Long Company, which is 51 percent owned by members of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota. Collateral consisted of 2,230 acres of allotted fee land within the reservation. After the Long Company defaulted on its loans and transferred title to the land to the Bank, the Long Company and the Bank negotiated for the Long Company to repurchase the land and agreed that the Long Company would have a two year lease with an option to purchase and the Bank would provide an operating loan. Because the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) did not timely complete required paperwork, the operating loan was not made. As a result of the harsh winter of 1996-97, the Long Company was unable to exercise its option. The Bank then sold the property to non-tribal members.
The Long Company sued the Plains Commerce Bank in the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Court, alleging discrimination against the Longs due to their status as American Indians and tribal members. A jury ruled in favor of the Long Company. Subsequently, a tribal appeals court upheld the ruling holding that, under traditional Lakota notions of justice, fair play, and decency to others, discrimination because of race or tribal affiliation was a tort. It held that the tribal code gives tribal courts jurisdiction over tort claims and that U.S. Supreme Court precedent permitted the exercise of such jurisdiction over a non-Indian bank because the bank had formed a consensual relationship with members of the Tribe and because the bank’s conduct implicated the Tribe’s economic security.
The Bank filed a lawsuit challenging the tribe’s jurisdiction in South Dakota federal district court; however, that court ruled for the Long Company. On June 26, 2007, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed. On January 4, 2008, the Supreme Court granted certiorari, and on February 21, 2008, Plains Commerce Bank filed its opening brief.
On February 21, 2008, MSLF filed a friend of the court brief in support of Petitioner. Oral arguments were held on April 14, 2008.
