Disir
Platinum Member
- Sep 30, 2011
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The facts of the case, Dollar General Corp. v. Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, are pretty straightforward. The corporation runs a Dollar General store in premises it leases from the Mississippi Choctaws on the tribe’s reservation. The lease says that any legal dispute over the lease and its terms shall be resolved exclusively in tribal court, subject to the tribe’s Tort Claims Act. The agreement is very similar to one the corporation would make with a foreign sovereign when leasing property to do business in the sovereign’s territory.
The store ran a “youth opportunity program,” and a 13-year-old tribal member said the store’s non-Indian manager, Dale Townsend, made sexual advances on him when he was participating in it. The boy’s family sued the store in the Choctaw tribal court. The question is whether the tribal court has authority over the store.
The stakes of the case are potentially very large: Non-Indians do billions of dollars of business -- much of it gambling business -- on reservations pursuant to commercial leases and contracts.
Dollar General Tries to Shake Up Tribal Law
I have heard more about tribal law in the last three months than I have in two years. There are several issues that have been in the media.
The store ran a “youth opportunity program,” and a 13-year-old tribal member said the store’s non-Indian manager, Dale Townsend, made sexual advances on him when he was participating in it. The boy’s family sued the store in the Choctaw tribal court. The question is whether the tribal court has authority over the store.
The stakes of the case are potentially very large: Non-Indians do billions of dollars of business -- much of it gambling business -- on reservations pursuant to commercial leases and contracts.
Dollar General Tries to Shake Up Tribal Law
I have heard more about tribal law in the last three months than I have in two years. There are several issues that have been in the media.
