Case Summary
Issue:
Whether an Indian tribe has subject matter jurisdiction over civil litigation against a non-member arising from a slip-and-fall accident by a tribal member on non-Indian fee land located within the exterior boundaries of a reservation?
Plaintiff:
Sherman Motor Inn, Inc.
Defendant:
Douglas Garfield; Honorable Richard K. Jackson, Chief Judge, Fort Peck Tribal Court
Amicus Curiae:
Mountain States Legal Foundation
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Case History
The Sherman Motor Inn, Inc., a non-Indian corporation organized under the laws of the State of Montana whose directors and shareholders are all non-Indians, operates a hotel/restaurant/lounge on non-Indian fee land in Wolf Point, Montana, within the exterior boundaries of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation.
Douglas Garfield is a citizen of the State of Montana and an enrolled member of the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes and resides within the exterior boundaries of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. He alleges that, on January 12, 2000, he slipped and fell on a patch of ice and snow 15-20 feet from the front entrance to the Sherman Motor Inn. On May 31, 2000, Garfield filed a lawsuit in the Fort Peck Tribal Court seeking damages for the injuries he allegedly sustained in the slip and fall. The Sherman Motor Inn moved to dismiss the tribal court action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction; however, on October 14, 2003, the Tribal Court held that the it had jurisdiction over the lawsuit. On September 25, 2006, the Fort Peck Tribal Court of Appeals upheld that ruling.
On November 7, 2006, the Sherman Motor Inn filed a complaint in Montana federal district court seeking declaratory and injunctive relief preventing the Fort Peck Tribal Court from entertaining Garfield’s suit. On February 26, 2007, MSLF filed its friend of the court brief in support of the Sherman Motor Inn’s motion for summary judgment.
