Case Name: MEYER & ASSOCIATES, INC. v. COUSHATTA TRIBE OF LOUISIANA
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 2008-09-23
Citations: 992 So. 2d 446
Docket Number: No. 2007-CC-2256
Parties: MEYER & ASSOCIATES, INC. v. COUSHATTA TRIBE OF LOUISIANA.
Judges: CALOGERO, J., additionally concurs and assigns additional reasons.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 992
Pages: 446–462

Head Matter:
MEYER & ASSOCIATES, INC. v. COUSHATTA TRIBE OF LOUISIANA.
No. 2007-CC-2256.
Supreme Court of Louisiana.
Sept. 23, 2008.
Rehearing Denied Nov. 10, 2008.
Carleton, Dunlap, Olinde, Moore & Boh-man, Richard Phillip Ieyoub, James Elwood Moore, Jr., Baton Rouge, Modrall, Sperling, Roehl, Harris & Sisk, Lynn H. Slade, Pro Hac Vice, for applicant.
Vilar & Elliott, Charles D. Elliott, Alexandria, Aaron L. Green, for respondent.

Opinion:
TRAYLOR, J.
hWe granted this writ application to determine whether the court of appeal erred in reversing the judgment of the trial court. For the reasons which follow, we reverse the ruling of the court of appeal and reinstate the judgment of the trial court.
FACTS and PROCEDURAL HISTORY
In December of 2001, the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana ("CTOL" or "the Tribe"), a federally recognized Indian Tribe, entered into an "Agreement for Professional Services" with Meyer and Associates, Inc. ("Meyer"), for general engineering and construction services. This contract, signed by Lovelin Poncho, then the Chairman of the Coushatta Tribal Council, provided that the contract would be governed by the laws of the State of Louisiana, that any disputes would be settled by binding arbitration according to the rules of the American Arbitration Association, and that the arbitration would be enforced in the Tribal Court.
Some time later, Meyer and the Tribe decided to jointly develop an electric power plant. The development, as contemplated, would involve major financial investments from businesses, cooperatives, and municipalities. On January 14, 2003, the Tribal Council passed Resolution 2003-04, authorizing the |2Chairman to negotiate and execute all necessary agreements with Meyer as may be required to enable the complete development and implementation of the power program, as well as to negotiate and execute necessary memorandums of agreement (MOA) with various companies and municipalities as may be necessary to develop and implement the program. R. at 98-105.
During the same period of time, the Tribe, through Chairman Poncho, and Meyer entered into an "Interim and Definitive Supplemental Agreement to Existing Agreement for CTOL Power Program," which modified the original "Agreement for Professional Services." This interim agreement was executed "with Effective Date of CTOL Resolution 2003-04 or January 14, 2003." R. at 114. The interim agreement stated, among other things, that the two agreements and "amendments thereto shall be interpreted, governed and construed under the laws of the State of Louisiana without regard to applicable conflict of laws provisions," that the Tribe "irrevocably consented] to the jurisdiction of the courts of the State of Louisiana," that "any dispute arising hereunder shall be heard by a court of competent jurisdiction in the Parish of Allen, or any other Parish mutually agreed to," and that the "CTOL, specifically waives any rights, claims, or defenses to sovereign immunity it may have as it relates to this Agreement except this waiver is limited at this time to Development Phase 2 Services." R. at 113-14.
Between April and September 2003, the Tribe executed memorandums of understanding (MOU) with Valley Electric Membership Cooperation ("Valley") and the cities of Natchitoches, Minden, and Ruston, Louisiana. The Valley MOU contained a forum selection clause agreeing that disputes would be 1Jitigated in a court of competent jurisdiction in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, and a waiver of the Tribe's sovereign immunity. The remaining MOU's contained similar forum selection clauses indicating that disputes would be litigated under the laws of the State of Louisiana in courts of competent jurisdiction in appropriate venues, as well as waivers of sovereign immunity.
In June of 2005, the Tribe elected a new Tribal Council and Chairman.
On April 21, 2006, the Tribe filed suit in Tribal Court against Meyer for damages related to the various contracts. On June 9, 2006, Meyer filed suit against the Tribe in the Fourteenth Judicial District Court for breach of contract. On July 7, 2006, the Tribe filed Exceptions of Lis Pendens and Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction in the district court. The district court denied the Exception of Lis Pendens on October 31, 2006, and on November 6, 2006, the district court denied the Exception of Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction. On August 8, 2007, the court of appeal applied the federal exhaustion of tribal remedies doctrine and stayed the matter, determining that the district court should have allowed the Tribal Court the opportunity to decide whether the Tribe had waived its sovereign immunity. This Court granted writs in order to determine the propriety of the court of appeal's ruling.
DISCUSSION
The issues before the Court are twofold: (1) Whether the district court should have stayed this matter in accordance with the exhaustion of tribal remedies doctrine in order to allow the Tribal Court to decide whether the Tribe had waived its sovereign immunity, and (2), if not, whether the Tribe waived its sovereign immunity such that it was amenable to suit in the district court.
|4The exhaustion of tribal remedies doctrine is a jurisprudential rule developed by the federal courts in order to promote tribal sovereignty. The doctrine holds that when federal and tribal courts have concurrent jurisdiction, or when a tribal court has even a "colorable claim" of jurisdiction, federal courts will afford the tribal courts the opportunity to first determine their jurisdiction. Ninigret Development Corp. v. Narragansett Indian Wetuomuck Housing Authority, 207 F.3d 21, 28 (1st Cir.2000).
As ably explained by the court of appeal in this matter:
The federal government favors and encourages tribal self-government, and in furtherance of these policies, the Supreme Court has held that a tribe whose jurisdiction has been challenged should have the first opportunity to determine the validity of such a challenge. In Iowa [Mut. Ins. Co. v. LaPlante, 480 U.S. 9, 107 S.Ct. 971, 94 L.Ed.2d 10 (1987) ], the Court stated, "[r]egardless of the basis for jurisdiction, the federal policy supporting tribal self-government directs a federal court to stay its hand in order to give the tribal court a 'full opportunity to determine its own jurisdiction.' " This policy favors abstention by non-tribal courts to allow self-government and self-determination by Indian tribes of which tribal courts play an important role. The policy allows tribal courts to be the first to respond to an invocation of a challenge to their jurisdiction. It is prudential not jurisdictional. Therefore, it does not establish adjudicatory authority over lawsuits filed in tribal courts. A tribal court's determination that it had jurisdiction is reviewable after tribal remedies have been exhausted.
Being a prudential rule, the doctrine is applied as a matter of comity. Comity is a discretionary policy where "the courts of one state give effect to the laws of another state or extend immunity to a sister sovereign not as a rule of law but rather out of deference or respect. Courts extend immunity as a matter of comity to foster cooperation, promote harmony, and build goodwill." Unless there is an abuse of discretion by the trial court, the decision not to extend comity should not be overturned.
Meyer and Assoc., Inc. v. Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, 2006-1542 (La.App. 3 Cir. 8/8/07) 965 So.2d 930, 934-5.
As related by the court of appeal, the United States Supreme Court has never held that the exhaustion of tribal remedies doctrine applies to the states. If we assume that the doctrine does apply to state courts, it is axiomatic that the jurisdiction of the state court must be determined prior to the doctrine's application. The doctrine applies only when a federal court (or hypothetically, here, a state court) and a tribal court share jurisdiction. The doctrine mandates that a court with jurisdiction allow a tribal court which may have jurisdiction to determine its own jurisdictional question. If a state or federal court did not have jurisdiction, there would be no need to apply the doctrine. Instead, the state or federal court would decline to proceed with the case based on lack of subject matter jurisdiction. In any event, the doctrine does not mandate that tribal courts be allowed to determine whether or not non-tribal courts have concurrent jurisdiction.
Our determination that state courts are the arbiters of their own jurisdiction is bolstered by previous holdings by courts of appeal in this State. In Ortego v. Tunica Biloxi Indians of Louisiana d/b/a Paragon Casino, 03-1001 (La.App. 3 Cir. 2/4/04), 865 So.2d 985, writ denied, 04-587 (La.4/23/04), 870 So.2d 306, the court of appeal determined that the trial court did not have jurisdiction over the matter because there was no valid waiver of sovereign immunity rather than because of the tribal exhaustion doctrine. Likewise, in the case of Bonnette v. Tunica-Biloxi Indians, 02-919, 02-920, 02-921 (La.App. 3 Cir. 5/28/03), 873 So.2d 1, the court of appeal dismissed the suit due to the lack of a valid waiver of sovereign immunity.
| RFor these reasons, the district court did not err in entertaining the issue of whether or not it had subject matter jurisdiction, and because the issue of the district court's subject matter jurisdiction revolved around whether the Tribe had validly waived its sovereign immunity, the district court did not err in declining to defer to the Tribal Court on that issue.
With regard to the waiver, an Indian tribe is subject to suit in state courts only where Congress has authorized the suit or the tribe has waived its immunity. Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma v. Manufacturing Technologies, Inc., 523 U.S. 751, 754, 118 S.Ct. 1700, 1702, 140 L.Ed.2d 981 (1998). Congress' authorization for suit must be unequivocal and a tribe's waiver must be clear. C & L Enterprises, Inc. v. Citizen Band of Potawatomi Indian Tribe of Oklahoma, 532 U.S. 411, 418, 121 S.Ct. 1589, 1594, 149 L.Ed.2d 623 (2001).
Meyer has not asserted that Congress authorized the suit, rather its argument is that the Tribe unequivocally waived its immunity to the suit by means of the forum selection clauses contained in the various contracts between the parties and in the MOU's between the Tribe and the municipalities. There is no doubt that the language contained in the forum selection clauses would suffice to waive the Tribe's sovereign immunity, if the clauses are valid. The Tribe argues, however, that Chairman Poncho did not have the authority to waive the Tribe's sovereign immunity because, according to Tribal law, its sovereign immunity could only be waived by means of a Tribal Resolution or ordinance, and that no such resolution or ordinance was passed by the Tribal Council.
The Tribe relies on the following language contained in its Tribal Law:
[7The Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, as a sovereign government, is absolutely immune from suit, and its Tribal Counsel, judges, Appellate Judges, ad-hoc Judges, officers, agents, and employees shall be immune from any civil or criminal liability arising or alleged to arise from their performance or non-performance of their official duties. Nothing in this Code shall be deemed to constitute a waiver of the sovereign immunity of the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana except as expressly provided herein or as specifically waived by a resolution or ordinance approved by the Tribal Counsel specifically referring to such.
Title 1, § 1.1.05 of the Coushatta Judicial Code.
Meyer argues that the language of § 1.1.05 makes clear that the section does not apply to the waivers in question, but instead clarifies simply that "nothing in this [Judicial] Code" should be construed as waiving the Tribe's sovereign immunity absent a resolution or ordinance so stating, and that the Tribe's sovereign immunity naturally extends to its judicial officers.
It is a well-settled principle of statutory construction that absent clear evidence of a contrary legislative intention, a statute should be interpreted according to its plain language. Cleco Evangeline, LLC v. Louisiana Tax Commission, 01-2162, p. 5 (La.4/3/02), 813 So.2d 351, 354. When a law is clear and unambiguous and its application does not lead to absurd consequences, the law shall be applied as written and no further interpretation may be made in search of the intent of the legislature. La. C.C. art. 9. The meaning and intent of a law is determined by a consideration of the law in its entirety, and the court's construction should be consistent with the express terms of law and with the obvious intent of the lawmaker in enacting it. Bridges v. Autozone Properties, Inc., 04-0814 (La.3/24/05), 900 So.2d 784, 799. The best evidence of the legislature's intent is the wording of the statute. State v. Williams, 00-1725 (La.11/28/01), 800 So.2d 790, 800.
Here, the Tribal Council's restriction of its wording to "[n]othing in this Code" makes clear that the codal article applies only to the language of the Code, and not to waivers extraneous to the Code. If, however, we had determined that the codal language required that the Tribal Council pass a "resolution or ordinance" in order to waive sovereign immunity, the Tribal Council passed Resolution 2003-04 authorizing the Chairman to "negotiate and execute . all necessary additional Agreements with Meyers and/or to execute Work Authorizations" in order to fully implement the Power Program. R. at 524. The Chairman testified that the waivers found in the various contracts and MOU's were necessary to induce the contracting entities to do business with and make substantial financial commitments to the Tribe. R. at 282.
Because the Tribe validly executed waivers of sovereign immunity and expressly subjected itself to the jurisdiction of the district court, we must now determine if the district court erred in not staying the matter to allow the Tribal Court to determine if it had jurisdiction over the non-Indian party, and, if so, decide the merits of the case.
As stated above, the tribal exhaustion doctrine is one based in comity, a discretionary policy, and the decision whether or not to apply the doctrine is up to the discretion of the district court. Here, the merits of the case, a contractual dispute, are, according to the language of the forum selection clauses, to be "interpreted, governed and construed under the laws of the State of Louisiana," rather than by Tribal law. Next, the State of Louisiana has a major interest in contractual disputes involving its corporations and municipalities. Further, the | gdispute does not involve tribal governance or political integrity. Next, state courts, unlike federal courts, do not have the power to review a tribal court's exercise of jurisdiction over non-members. Finally, the district court carefully considered the arguments of both parties in reaching its decision. Given these facts, we cannot say that the district court abused its discretion.
DECREE
For the foregoing reasons, we reverse the ruling of the court of appeal, reinstate the judgment of the trial court, and remand the matter to the district court for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
CALOGERO, J., additionally concurs and assigns additional reasons.
KIMBALL, J., dissents and assigns reasons.
JOHNSON, J., dissents for reasons assigned by KIMBALL.
VICTORY, J., concurs in the result.
WEIMER, J., dissents and assigns reasons.