Monster Technology Group, LLC v. Garrett A. Eller

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma civil litigation lawyers represented Plaintiff, who sued Defendant on a civil rights violation theory.



Monster believes the Iowa Tribe breached a contract with it that concerned

development of software for online gaming operations. Monster therefore filed a

petition for arbitration with the American Arbitration Association (AAA).

The Iowa Tribe contends the dispute must be adjudicated by its tribal court. It

therefore sought and obtained from the tribal district court a preliminary injunction

preventing Monster from pursuing AAA arbitration. Monster filed a notice of

interlocutory appeal seeking to appeal the preliminary injunction to the Supreme Court of

the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma.



Before the Iowa Tribe Supreme Court ruled on the appeal, Monster filed a

complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief against the tribal district judge, in his

official capacity, in the Western District of Oklahoma. Monster sought declarations that

the tribal court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the claims brought by the Iowa Tribe

against it, and that the question of whether Monster could force the Iowa Tribe to

arbitrate must be decided by the AAA, and not the tribal court. Monster also sought an

injunction ordering the tribal judge to refrain from exercising jurisdiction over claims

against Monster or from continuing to enjoin Monster's efforts to seek arbitration with

the AAA.



The district court dismissed the complaint sua sponte. It noted that under "[t]he

tribal court exhaustion rule,” "'as a matter of comity, a federal court should not exercise

jurisdiction over cases arising under its federal question or diversity jurisdiction, if those

cases are also subject to tribal jurisdiction, until the parties have exhausted their tribal

remedies.'” Aplt. App. at 68 (quoting United States v. Tsosie, 92 F.3d 1037, 1041

(10th Cir. 1996)). And it concluded that "[i]f the Tribal Supreme Court upholds the

lower court's determination that it has jurisdiction, [Monster] may challenge that ruling

before this Court.” Id. at 70. "But,” the district court further concluded, "unless and until

that happens, because the exhaustion of tribal court remedies is required before

[Monster's] claims may be considered by a federal court, and because [Monster] has not

exhausted its tribal court remedies, this case is hereby DISMISSED without prejudice.”

Id.

We grant Monster’s motion and dismiss this appeal. We grant the Iowa Tribe’s

motion for sanctions as set forth herein. We remand to the district court for the limited purpose of determining the amount of the monetary award. The pending motion for judicial notice is denied as moot.