The following is our summary of the Supreme Court’s actions on petitions for review in civil cases from the Court’s conference on Wednesday, May 21, 2014. The summary includes those civil cases in which (1) review has been granted, (2) review has been denied but one or more justices has voted for review, or (3) the Court has ordered depublished an opinion of the Court of Appeal.
Review Granted
People v. Miami Nation Enterprises, S216878—Review Granted—May 21, 2014
The question presented is whether tribal sovereign immunity applies under the “arm-of-the-tribe” doctrine to five payday loan advance businesses owned by the Miami tribe of Oklahoma?
The defendant, Miami Nation Enterprises, operates the payday loan advance businesses in violation of both state and tribal law. The state brought an action to enjoin the businesses from continuing unlawful operations. Sovereign immunity applies to federally recognized tribes, immunizing them against actions in state and federal court. Many federal and state opinions, including those of the California Supreme Court, recognize an “arm-of-the-tribe” prong extending the immunity to qualifying subordinate entities of the tribe. The trial court dismissed the action for lack of jurisdiction based on sovereign immunity.
The Court of Appeal, Second District, Division Seven, affirmed in a published opinion, People v. Miami Nation Enterprises (2014) 223 Cal.App.4th 21. It held the central question in determining whether the “arm-of-the-tribe” doctrine applies is this: “Are the tribal entities sufficiently related to their respective tribes to be protected by tribal sovereign immunity.” The court held the businesses at issue qualified as “arms-of-the-tribe” and thus were protected from suit by sovereign immunity.
Review Denied (with dissenting justices)
None.
Depublished
None.
Notable Denials
As discussed here, the Court denied review yesterday in Highland Park Heritage Trust v. City of Los Angeles (Autry National Center of the American West), S217172, allowing to stand an unpublished decision by the Court of Appeal, Second District, Division Two, that will allow the remodeling of the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum in LA’s Griffith Park.
