Opinion ID: 1438862
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: State Court Jurisdiction

Text: Having found the Tribe waived its sovereign immunity on all four contracts, we must consider whether its waiver extends to South Dakota state court enforcement. We find it does. The parties opted to use arbitration, and in doing so, opted for the AAA's Rules. [3] Three contracts specifically incorporate those Rules. The Rules themselves provide [t]he parties shall be deemed to have made these rules a part of their arbitration agreement whenever they have provided for arbitration by the [AAA]. AAA R-1(a). The Rules further provide that [p]arties to these rules shall be deemed to have consented that judgment upon the arbitration award may be entered in any federal or state court having jurisdiction thereof. AAA R-49(c). This is certainly not a limitation requiring recourse to the Tribal Court. The three contracts which included an arbitration clause specifically state: [T]he award rendered by the arbitrator shall be final, and judgment may be entered upon it in accordance with the applicable law in any court having jurisdiction thereof. See supra. We reject the Tribe's contention that it waived immunity only to suit in Tribal Courtthat is not what the contracts say. The parties could have made such an agreement, but did not do so. Indeed, the text of the Base and Blotter contract makes this precise choice. And any express limitation imposed by the Tribe on its consent to suit would have been duly recognized. See Missouri River, 267 F.3d at 852-54. Once a party opts for, and participates in, arbitration, however, it is bound by the arbitrator's decisions. Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was the site chosen for the hearing without objection. Under AAA Rule R-11, even in the face of an objection, the AAA shall have the power to determine the locale, and its decision shall be final and binding. By choosing a hearing forum in South Dakota, the arbitrator ultimately decided which court would have jurisdiction to confirm the award. South Dakota's Uniform Arbitration Act provides: The term `court' means a circuit court of this state. The making of an agreement described in § 21-25A-1 providing for arbitration in this state confers jurisdiction on the court to enforce the agreement under this chapter and to enter judgment on an award thereunder. S.D.C.L. § 21-25A-4. When it agreed to arbitrate disputes and incorporated the AAA's claim resolution procedures into the contracts, and when it participated in the South Dakota arbitration, the Tribe acquiesced in the arbitrator's decision, placing jurisdiction over the award in South Dakota's courts. Once the Tribe waived its immunity by agreeing to arbitration, it constitute[d] a waiver of whatever immunity the Tribe possessed. C & L Enterprises, 532 U.S. at 422, 121 S.Ct. 1589 (citation omitted).