Client Alert

Indian Nations Law Update - October 2016

Godfrey & Kahn Welcomes Kathryn Allen

Kathryn R. Allen has joined the firm’s Banking & Financial Institutions Practice Group and Indian Nations Practice Group in the Milwaukee office. Kathryn earned her J.D. at the University of Wisconsin and graduated from Michigan State University with a B.A. in Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy. Kathryn was a summer associate at Godfrey and Kahn during the summers of 2014 and 2015. Prior to law school she was a legal intern for McLellan Law Offices in Lansing, Michigan. Kathryn is a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Chippewa Tribe.  

Supreme Court agrees to review sovereign immunity decision

The U.S. Supreme Court has picked its first Indian law case for review during the new 2016-17 Court term. The Court will review the Connecticut Supreme Court’s decision in Lewis v. Clarke, 320 Conn. 706, 135 A.3d 677 (Conn. 2016). Clarke, an employee of the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority (Tribe), was engaged in his professional duties for the Tribe when he allegedly caused a motor vehicle accident that injured the Lewises. The Lewises did not sue the Tribe but instead sued Clarke personally for damages. The trial court denied Clarke’s motion to dismiss on sovereign immunity grounds, but the Connecticut Supreme Court reversed, holding that Clarke shared the Tribe’s immunity: “the plaintiffs cannot circumvent tribal immunity by merely naming the defendant, an employee of the tribe, when the complaint concerns actions taken within the scope of his duties and the complaint does not allege, nor have the plaintiffs offered any other evidence, that he acted outside the scope of his authority.” The court expressly declined to follow the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Maxwell v. San Diego, 708 F.3d 1075 (9th Cir. 2013). The petition for review asked the Court to decide “Whether the sovereign immunity of an Indian tribe bars individual-capacity damages actions against tribal employees for torts committed within the scope of their employment.”

Please subscribe above to view the Indian Nations update in its entirety.