Court Opinion

ID: 9795320
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 03:25:58.067237+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:29:30.638828
License: Public Domain

WATT, J.
concurring specially.
T1 I express no opinion as to whether liability may ultimately lie against the Tribe under the facts presented. Nevertheless, I agree with the majority's determination that the Tribe effectively waived any right to the shield of sovereign immunity by the casino's agreement to be bound by state law. I also recognize that, generally, the issue of tribal sovereign immunity is established by federal law. In reaching the decision today, this Court has considered federal precedent. However, onee the casino waived its sovereign immunity by agreeing to be bound by Oklahoma law, state law became the measure by which the cause was to be governed. Therefore, the determination that the Tribe is subject to suit in Oklahoma courts rests squarely within Oklahoma law which provides bona fide, separate, adequate and independent grounds for our decision.1

. Michigan v. Long, 463 U.S. 1032, 103 S.Ct. 3469, 3476, 77 L.Ed.2d 1201 (1983).