Court Opinion

ID: 9494972
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 15:51:29.561281+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:56:44.434997
License: Public Domain

JOHN FEIKENS, District Judge,
dissenting.
I agree with the result reached by the court but, with due respect, I write separately to state that I would affirm the Order On Standing entered by Chief Judge Robert Holmes Bell on November 6, 2001.
In his opinion, which sets out reasons for concluding that plaintiff Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians had standing, Judge Bell stated that competitors have standing to challenge decisions made by administrative agencies that affect competition. He cites Supreme Court cases in support of this conclusion (see p. 6 of his November 6, 2001 Opinion).1
I note particularly his cite to Association of Data Processing Service Organizations, Inc. v. Camp, Comptroller of the Currency, 397 U.S. 150, 157, 90 S.Ct. 827, 25 L.Ed.2d 184 (1970). In that case the Supreme Court found that the plaintiff had satisfied the injury-in-fact requirement by alleging the possibility of future loss due to competition. The Court said:
The first question is whether the plaintiff alleges that the challenged action has caused him injury in fact, economic or otherwise. There can be no doubt but that petitioners have satisfied this test. The petitioners not only allege that competition by national banks in the business of providing data processing services might entail some future loss of profits for the petitioners, they also allege that respondent American National Bank & Trust Company was performing or preparing to perform such services for two customers for whom petitioner Data Systems, Inc., had previously agreed or negotiated to perform such services.
Id. at 152, 90 S.Ct. 827.
Using common sense, as I read plaintiffs allegations, I also conclude that plaintiff has shown that it has sustained and/or will sustain a negative economic effect; that is, it is a competitor of Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians; that it is located within forty miles of that tribe; and that it draws (customers) gamblers from the same locale. It is clear that the Victories Casino in Petoskey would hurt the plaintiffs business. To require more, ie., a heightened standard of pleading and an affidavit to support that pleading, which proof the majority asserts may be readily available, is to exalt form over substance. It seems to me that we should give deference to the district judge in his holding and not require what is obvious.
This case, and its appeal, is based upon the interpretation and application of the Indian Gaming Regulation Act (IGRA). Under IGRA, gaming on lands acquired in trust by the Secretary of the [Department of the] Interior (DOI) is prohibited except when the lands are taken into trust as part *918of the restoration of lands for an Indian tribe that is restored to federal recognition. See 25 U.S.C. 2719(b)(1)(B)(iii). The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe argues that the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians (LTBB) is not a restored tribe under the Act and that the determination by DOI that LTBB is a restored tribe should not be accorded deference. Sault Ste. Marie further contends that this decision was in violation of the law under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA). There are two issues central to this appeal: first, whether DOI’s determination of LTBB’s eligibility to conduct gaming is reasonable under the Chevron doctrine and, second, whether DOI’s determination of LTBB’s eligibility to conduct gaming is in violation of the APA.
In his initial opinion of December 17, 1999, Judge Bell made a thorough analysis of both these issues. He conducted a complete study of LTBB’s history and DOI’s decision-making process. He found that “The Secretary’s determination that LTBB is a restored tribe for purposes of IGRA § 2719(b)(1)(B)(iii) is not arbitrary or capricious, or in violation of the law. Because the Secretary has given this provision a reasonable construction, it will not be set aside.”
I see no need to recreate Judge Bell’s analysis here because I find that his reasoning is sound. Therefore, I would AFFIRM Judge Bell’s grant of summary judgment to defendants.

. National Credit Union Administration v. First National Bank, 522 U.S. 479, 488, 118 S.Ct. 927, 140 L.Ed.2d 1 (1998); Arnold Tours, Inc. v. Camp, 400 U.S. 45, 91 S.Ct. 158, 27 L.Ed.2d 179 (1970).