Date: 06-30-2009

Case Style: Danny Dye and Pat Dye v. Choctaw Casino of Pocola, Oklahoma and The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma

Case Number: 2009 OK 52

Judge: Per Curiam

Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court on cert from the Court of Civil Appeals

Plaintiff's Attorney: Dan Walker, Fort Smith, Arkansas, for plaintiffs/appellants.

Defendant's Attorney: Bob Rabon, Hugo, Oklahoma, Dennis W. Arrow, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for defendants/appellees.

Dean Luthey, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Diane Hammons, Tahlequah, Oklahoma, for Cherokee Nation and Cherokee Nation Businesses, LLC, amici curiae.

Deanna Hartley-Kelso, Debra Gee, Stephen H. Greetham, Jesse D. Green, Ada, Oklahoma, for Chickasaw Nation, amicus curiae.

William R. Norman, Jr., Kirke Kickingbird,

Description: ¶1 One question is presented in this appeal: Is the state district court a court of competent jurisdiction as used in the gaming compact between the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and the State of Oklahoma such that the district court may exercise jurisdiction over this Indian-country arising negligence action filed by a casino patron against the Choctaw tribe and its casino? We answer in the affirmative.

¶2 The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, a federally recognized Indian tribe1 (Tribe), owns a casino which it operates through its tribal enterprise, the Choctaw Casino of Pocola, Oklahoma (casino). The Tribe offers class III gaming2 to its casino's patrons pursuant to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, 25 U.S.C. §§ 2701-2722 (1988), and the State-Tribal Gaming Act, 3A O.S.Supp.2004, §§ 261-281, which includes the statutory "Model Tribal Gaming Compact" (compact), id. § 281, signed by the Tribe and effective February 9, 2005.3

¶3 On December 6, 2005, Danny Dye and Pat Dye (Dyes) visited the casino. According to the Dyes, Danny Dye4 left the gaming area of the casino, and while he was walking through the parking lot, a casino shuttle cart driven by a casino employee ran into him. Danny Dye was injured. The Dyes submitted a notice of tort claims to the casino and the Tribe as provided in the compact,5 alleging that Danny was seriously injured by the negligence of the casino's shuttle-cart driver. When the Tribe and the casino failed to act upon the tort claim, it was deemed denied.

¶4 The Dyes filed a tort action in the state district court in LeFlore County against the casino and the Tribe. The Tribe moved to dismiss the tort action on the basis of tribal sovereign immunity to suit in state court, arguing that Oklahoma state courts may not exercise jurisdiction over a sovereign Indian tribe unless Congress or the Indian tribe has clearly consented to suit in state court or waived tribal immunity. The Dyes responded that the Tribe consented to suit in the compact, which, at Part 6(A)(2), states that the "tribe consents to suit on a limited basis with respect to tort claims" and, at Part 6(C),states that the "tribe consents to suit against the enterprise in a court of competent jurisdiction with respect to tort claims." The Tribe contended that the declaration in Part 9 of the compact that "(t)his Compact shall not alter tribal, federal or state civil adjudicatory or criminal jurisdiction," places subject-matter jurisdiction exclusively in tribal court and therefore, that the consent to suit in a court of competent jurisdiction in the compact is consent to suit in tribal court only. The Honorable Ted A. Knight, Judge of the District Court, concluded that tribal courts and federal courts have jurisdiction over Indian tribes but state courts do not and dismissed the action.

¶5 The Dyes appealed the dismissal, and this Court assigned the appeal to the Court of Civil Appeals. Subsequently, we received another appeal from the LeFlore County district court presenting the same issues under the compact with the Choctaw Nation in Griffith v. Choctaw Casino of Pocola, Oklahoma, No. 104,887. We denied Griffith's request to make her appeal a companion case with this one, but noted the appeals are related. Thereafter, this Court received a certified question as to whether the district court in Rogers County, Oklahoma, is a "court of competent jurisdiction" as that phrase is used in the tribal gaming compact between the Cherokee Nation and the State of Oklahoma in Cossey v. Cherokee Nation Enterprises, LLC, No. 105,300.

¶6 The Court of Civil Appeals reversed the district court's dismissal and remanded this case. Although the Court of Civil Appeals reached the same result we reach today, we granted the petition for writ of certiorari filed by the Tribe and its casino because of the significance of the question as to whether a state district court is a court of competent jurisdiction under the Model Tribal Gaming Compact, 3A O.S.Supp.2004, § 281.

¶7 We recently handed down our opinion in Cossey v. Cherokee Nation Enterprises, LLC, 2009 OK 6, __ P.3d ___, (mandate issued June 11, 2009), holding that the state district court is a court of competent jurisdiction as that phrase is used in the Cherokee Nation's tribal gaming compact. Today, in separate opinions in this case and in the related case of Griffith v. Choctaw Casino of Pocola, Oklahoma, we determine that Oklahoma district courts are courts of competent jurisdiction as that phrase is used in Oklahoma's statutory model tribal gaming compact, and that the state courts may exercise jurisdiction over the tort claims against the Choctaw Nation and its casino in Pocola, Oklahoma.

¶8 In Griffith v. Choctaw Casino of Pocola, Oklahoma, 2009 OK 51, handed down simultaneously, we considered the adjudicatory authority of the state district courts under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, 25 U.S.C. §§ 2701-2722, and the State-Tribal Gaming Act, 3A O.S.Supp.2004, §§ 261-281. This appeal, like Griffith, involves tort claims arising at the Choctaw Casino of Pocola, Oklahoma, and it presents a legal question identical to that in Griffith as to the jurisdiction of the state district court and the exercise of state adjudicatory authority over the Choctaw Nation. Rather than repeat at length our consideration and reasoning set out in Griffith, we adopt our Griffith opinion and base our conclusion and holding in this case upon Griffith. In doing so, we acknowledge that we considered this case and the related Griffith case simultaneously, and we are grateful for the thoughtful argument and authorities presented by the parties' counsel herein and the assistance of the amici curiae.

¶9 Accordingly, for the reasons expressed in Griffith v. Choctaw Casino of Pocola, Oklahoma, 2009 OK 51, we conclude and hold that the state district court is a court of competent jurisdiction as that term is used in the Model Tribal Gaming Compact codified at 3A O.S.Supp.2004, § 281. Our holding in this case does not change, diminish, or expand the jurisdiction of tribal courts nor take away the right of a tort claimant to select the forum - federal, state, or tribal - in which to file a tort action.

* * *

See: http://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/deliverdocument.asp?cite=2009+OK+52