Title: DYE v. CHOCTAW CASINO OF POCOLA

State: oklahoma

Issuer: Oklahoma Supreme Court

Document:

DYE v. CHOCTAW CASINO OF POCOLA  DYE v. CHOCTAW CASINO OF POCOLA 2009 OK 52 Case Number: 104737 Decided: 06/30/2009 THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA DANNY DYE and PAT DYE, Husband and Wife, Plaintiffs/Appellants, v. CHOCTAW CASINO OF POCOLA, OKLAHOMA, and THE CHOCTAW NATION OF OKLAHOMA, Defendants/Appellees. ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS, DIVISION I ¶0 Danny and Pat Dye filed a petition in the state district court against the Choctaw Nation and its casino in Pocola, Oklahoma, to recover tort damages. The Choctaw Nation moved to dismiss on the basis of tribal sovereign immunity. The district court dismissed the petition. The Dyes appealed. The Court of Civil Appeals reversed and remanded the cause. We granted the Choctaw Nation's petition for certiorari review. OPINION OF THE COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS VACATED; DISMISSAL ORDER OF THE DISTRICT COURT REVERSED; CAUSE REMANDED TO THE DISTRICT COURT FOR FURTHER PROCEEDINGS. Daniel W. Walker, Fort Smith, Arkansas, for plaintiffs/appellants. Robert Lee Rabon, Hugo, Oklahoma, Dennis W. Arrow, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for defendants/appellees. Graydon Dean Luthey, Jr., 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, Klint A. Cowan, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for Comanche Nation Gaming Corporation and Sac and Fox Nation Business Enterprises, Inc., amici curiae. Larry A. Tawwater, Darren M. Tawwater, Rex Travis Paul Kouri, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for The Oklahoma Association for Justice, amicus curiae. PER CURIAM: ¶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 tribe ¶3 On December 6, 2005, Danny Dye and Pat Dye (Dyes) visited the casino. According to the Dyes, Danny Dye ¶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, ¶7 We recently handed down our opinion in Cossey v. Cherokee Nation Enterprises, LLC, ¶8 In Griffith v. Choctaw Casino of Pocola, Oklahoma, ¶9 Accordingly, for the reasons expressed in Griffith v. Choctaw Casino of Pocola, Oklahoma, OPINION OF THE COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS VACATED; DISMISSAL ORDER OF THE DISTRICT COURT REVERSED; CAUSE REMANDED TO THE DISTRICT COURT FOR FURTHER PROCEEDINGS. Taylor, V.C.J., and Opala, Watt, Winchester, and Colbert, JJ., concur. Kauger, J., (by separate writing) concurs in part and dissents in part. Edmondson, C.J., and Hargrave and Reif (by separate writing), JJ., dissent. FOOT