Hoover v. Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma

Citation1995 OK 136,909 P.2d 59
Decision Date12 December 1995
Docket NumberNo. 78185,78185
PartiesRobert M. HOOVER, Jr., Appellant, v. KIOWA TRIBE OF OKLAHOMA, an Indian Nation, J.T. Goombi, Leonard Anquoe, Maimie Bohay, Allene Woodward, George Tahbone and Charles Hines, Appellees.
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma

Appeal from District Court of Oklahoma County.

William J. Robinson, Shirk, Work, Robinson & Work, P.C., Oklahoma City, for Appellant.

Nathan H. Young III, Tahlequah, for Appellees.

ALMA WILSON, Chief Justice:

The issue is whether a contract between an Indian tribe and a non-Indian is enforceable in state court when the contract is executed outside of Indian Country. We hold that it is enforceable.

FACTS

On April 3, 1990, the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma, represented by the individuals named in Hoover's complaint, 1 made, executed and delivered to Robert M. Hoover, Jr., a promissory note for $142,500.00, and executed a security agreement on the same date pledging as security 5,000 shares of common stock of Clinton-Sherman Aviation, Inc. 2 The tribe allegedly breached the contract by failing to make any of the agreed payments. After proper notice to the tribe, Hoover sold the stock at public auction. 3 Thereafter, Hoover brought this action in Oklahoma state court. The tribe moved to dismiss due (1) the only means by which an Indian Tribe can be sued is if a) Congress of the United States has authorized the suit by specific legislation, or b) the Indian Tribe has clearly waived its sovereign immunity; (2) although the subject contract does not relate to Indian lands or trust lands, the funds to pay the amount contracted for comes from the Kiowa Tribe and the payment affects the tribe's economic interest; (3) to construe the immunity to suit as not applying to suits on liabilities arising out of private transactions would defeat the very purpose of Congress in not relaxing the immunity, namely, the protection of the interests and property of the tribes and the individual Indians; and (4) due to the express clauses in the note and security agreement stating that sovereign immunity was not waived, the state court does not have jurisdiction.

to lack of jurisdiction, claiming that Hoover had not exhausted his tribal remedies and that the tribe could not be subjected to state court jurisdiction due to tribal sovereign immunity. The trial court agreed and ruled:

Hoover appealed.

TRIBAL SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY

The Kiowa Tribe claims that the state of Oklahoma cannot obtain jurisdiction over the tribe because it is vested with sovereign immunity, and therefore the appellant is precluded from suing the tribe. But Hoover answers that the tribe makes no distinction between activities taking place on the reservation, and those taking place off the reservation. He quotes from Mescalero Apache Tribe v. Jones, 411 U.S. 145, 148-149, 93 S.Ct. 1267, 1270, 36 L.Ed.2d 114 (1973) that: "Absent express federal law to the contrary, Indians going beyond reservation boundaries have generally been held subject to non-discriminatory state law otherwise applicable to all citizens of the State."

It is settled that absent express federal law to the contrary, state courts have jurisdiction over the merits of a tribal immunity defense to claims arising under state laws. Oklahoma Tax Commission v. Graham, 489 U.S. 838, 109 S.Ct. 1519, 103 L.Ed.2d 924 (1989). It is also settled that state laws may be applied to Indians, even on reservations, "unless such application would interfere with reservation self-government or impair a right granted or reserved by federal law.... State authority over Indians is yet more extensive over activities, such as in this case, not on any reservation." Organized Village of Kake v. Egan, 369 U.S. 60, 75, 82 S.Ct. 562, 571, 7 L.Ed.2d 573 (1962).

In Lewis v. Sac and Fox Tribe of Oklahoma Housing Authority, 896 P.2d 503, 508 (Okla.1994), we recognized this test as the preliminary inquiry that must be made whenever Indian interests are included in a controversy. In Lewis, two tribal members entered into a contract by which title to their home and land would pass to them on September 1, 1990. When they received a warranty deed conveying the surface rights only, they sued for specific performance and an accounting for all oil and gas revenues the Housing Authority had received since the date of the conveyance. The Authority objected to the jurisdiction of the district court. One of the issues was whether Congress had affirmatively ousted state courts of their concurrent jurisdiction to entertain contract actions involving land transactions between Indian buyers and state-created Indian housing authorities. This Court held that Congress had not, and that Oklahoma has inherent concurrent jurisdiction. Lewis, 896 P.2d at 505. But this Court did not deal with the issue of sovereign immunity of the tribe because the issue was not argued on appeal, and had been specifically abandoned. Lewis, 896 P.2d at 511.

The Supreme Court of New Mexico, in Padilla v. Pueblo of Acoma, 107 N.M. 174, 754 P.2d 845 (1988), cert. denied 490 U.S. 1029, 109 S.Ct. 1767, 104 L.Ed.2d 202 (1989), had before it the same issue of whether a state court had jurisdiction over a breach of contract action between a non-Indian and an Indian tribe, the Pueblo of Acoma. The plaintiff was a roofing consultant who had supervised the installation of roofs for the Pueblo of Acoma d/b/a Sky City Contractors, on two building projects located off the Acoma reservation. The Pueblo moved to dismiss the...

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13 cases
  • Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma v. Manufacturing Tech.
    • United States
    • United States Supreme Court
    • 26 mai 1998
    ...of Appeals nonetheless believed federal law did not mandate tribal immunity, resting its holding on the decision in Hoover v. Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma, 909 P.2d 59 (Okla.1995), cert. denied, 517 U.S. 1188, 116 S.Ct. 1675, 134 L.Ed.2d 779 (1996). In Hoover, the Oklahoma Supreme Court held tha......
  • Hoover v. Kiowa Tribe of Okl., 87139
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of Oklahoma
    • 17 mars 1998
    ...Oklahoma City, for appellant. William J. Robinson, Oklahoma City, for appellee. ALMA WILSON, Justice: ¶1 In Hoover v. Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma, 909 P.2d 59 (Okla.1995), cert. denied 517 U.S. 1188, 116 S.Ct. 1675, 134 L.Ed.2d 779 (1996) (Hoover I ), we rejected the argument of appellant, Kiow......
  • Bittle v. Bahe, 103,716.
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of Oklahoma
    • 5 février 2008
    ...in five attempts to resolve issues relating to and involving tribal sovereign immunity correctly. Hoover v. Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma, 1995 OK 136, 909 P.2d 59, judgment vacated by the United States Supreme Court, Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma v. Hoover, 525 U.S. 801, 119 S.Ct. 32, 142 L.Ed.2d 25 (......
  • Kiowa Indian Tribe of Oklahoma v. Hoover, s. 96-6278
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (10th Circuit)
    • 13 juillet 1998
    ...To the contrary, the Tribe specifically reserved its sovereign rights in the notes upon which it was sued. See, e.g., Hoover, 909 P.2d 59, 61 (Okla. 1995) (noting state district court's finding of express reservation of sovereign immunity in promissory note and security agreement). Creditor......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

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