Catawba Indian Tribe v. State

• Decision Date: 19 March 2007
• Docket Number: No. 26291.,26291.
• Court: South Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: CATAWBA INDIAN TRIBE OF SOUTH CAROLINA, Respondent, v. The STATE of South Carolina and Henry D. McMaster, in his official capacity as Attorney General of the State of South Carolina, Appellants.

642 S.E.2d 751

CATAWBA INDIAN TRIBE OF SOUTH CAROLINA, Respondent, v. The STATE of South Carolina and Henry D. McMaster, in his official capacity as Attorney General of the State of South Carolina, Appellants.

No. 26291.

Supreme Court of South Carolina.

Heard January 17, 2007.

Decided March 19, 2007.

Rehearing Denied April 18, 2007.

Attorney General Henry Dargan McMaster, Chief Deputy Attorney General John W. McIntosh, Assistant Deputy Attorney General Robert D. Cook, and Senior Assistant Attorney General C. Havird Jones, Jr., all of Columbia, for Appellants.

Dwight F. Drake and B. Rush Smith, III, both of Nelson, Mullins, Riley & Scarborough, LLP, of Columbia; Jay Bender, of Baker, Ravenel & Bender, LLP, of Columbia; Robert M. Jones, of Rock Hill; and Jim O. Stuckey, II, of Littler Mendelson, PC, of Columbia, for Respondent.

Justice BURNETT.

The State of South Carolina and Henry D. McMaster, in his official capacity as Attorney General of the State, (Appellants) appeal the circuit court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the Catawba Indian Tribe of South Carolina (Respondent). We certified the case for review from the Court of Appeals pursuant to Rule 204(b), SCACR, and we affirm in part and reverse in part.

FACTUAL/PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In 1993, after many years of litigation and extensive negotiations, Respondent, the State, and the United States entered into a settlement that ended a dispute over the right to possession of 144,000 acres of land located in York, Lancaster, and Chester counties.¹ This settlement was memorialized in an Agreement in Principle ("Settlement Agreement"). Federal legislation² ("Federal Act") and state legislation³ ("State Act") implemented the Settlement Agreement. The Federal Act requires the Settlement Agreement and the State Act to be complied with as if they had been implemented by federal law. 25 U.S.C.A. § 941b(a)(2) (2001).

As part of the settlement, Respondent waived its right to be governed by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.⁴ 25 U.S.C.A. § 941l (a); Settlement Agreement § 16.1. Respondent instead agreed to be governed by the terms of the Settlement Agreement and the State Act with regards to games of chance. 25 U.S.C.A. § 941l (b); S.C.Code Ann. § 27-16-110(A) (2007); Settlement Agreement § 16.2. The Settlement Agreement and the State Act give Respondent specific rights related to bingo and video poker or similar electronic play devices. S.C.Code Ann. § 27-16-110(B)-(H); Settlement Agreement § 16.3-.9.

Respondent brought this declaratory judgment action against Appellants seeking, inter alia, a declaration that pursuant to the terms of the Settlement Agreement and the State Act, Respondent has a present and continuing right to operate video poker or similar electronic play devices on its Reservation and a declaration that Respondent is not required to charge or pay an entrance fee imposed by S.C.Code Ann. § 12-21-4030(B)(1) (2000) against its bingo operation. On cross-motions for summary judgment, the circuit court ruled in favor of Respondent.

ISSUES

I. Did the circuit court err in granting summary judgment to Respondent on the ground Respondent has the present and continuing right to operate video poker or similar electronic play devices on its Reservation?

II. Did the circuit court err in granting summary judgment to Respondent on the ground the entrance fee imposed by S.C.Code Ann. § 12-21-4030(B)(1) (2000) was not applicable to Respondent's bingo operation?

STANDARD OF REVIEW

A circuit court may properly grant a motion for summary judgment when "the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Rule 56(c), SCRCP; Tupper v. Dorchester County, 326 S.C. 318, 325, 487 S.E.2d 187, 191 (1997). In determining whether any triable issues of fact exist, the circuit court must view the evidence and all reasonable inferences that may be drawn from the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. Manning v. Quinn, 294 S.C. 383, 385, 365 S.E.2d 24, 25 (1988). On appeal from an order granting summary judgment, the appellate court will review all ambiguities, conclusions, and inferences arising in and from the evidence in a light most favorable to the non-moving party below. Osborne v. Adams, 346 S.C. 4, 7, 550 S.E.2d 319, 321 (2001).

The issue of interpretation of a statute is a question of law for the court. Charleston County Parks & Recreation Comm'n v. Somers, 319 S.C. 65, 67, 459 S.E.2d 841, 843 (1995) ("The determination of legislative intent is a matter of law."). We are free to decide a question of law with no particular deference to the circuit court. Moriarty v. Garden Sanctuary Church of God, 341 S.C. 320, 327, 534 S.E.2d 672, 675 (2000).

LAW/ANALYSIS

I. Video Poker

Appellants argue the circuit court erred in granting summary judgment to Respondent on the ground the Settlement Agreement and the State Act give Respondent a present and continuing right to operate video poker or other similar electronic play devices on its Reservation. We agree.

The State Act provides:

[Respondent] may permit on its Reservation video poker or similar electronic play devices to the same extent that the devices are authorized by state law. [Respondent] is subject to all taxes, license requirements, regulations, and fees governing electronic play devices provided by state law, except if the Reservation is located in a county or counties which prohibit the devices pursuant to state law, [Respondent] nonetheless must be permitted to operate the devices on the Reservation if the governing body of [Respondent] so authorizes, subject to all taxes, license requirements, regulations, and fees governing electronic play devices provided by state law.

S.C.Code Ann. 27-16-110(G); see also Settlement Agreement § 16.8 (same).

Appellants contend § 27-16-110(G) does not enable Respondent to operate video poker devices on its Reservation regardless of a statewide ban on the devices. Appellants argue the Settlement Agreement and the State Act provide Respondent with the right to permit or operate video poker devices on its Reservation only "to the same extent that the devices are authorized by state law." S.C.Code Ann. § 27-16-110(G).

Respondent argues the Settlement Agreement and the State Act differentiate between the terms "permit" and "operate," such that Respondent may "permit" video poker devices on its Reservation "to the same extent that the devices are authorized by state law." Id. (emphasis added). Respondent further argues it "nonetheless must be permitted to operate the devices on the Reservation if the governing body of [Respondent] so authorizes" and if the counties where the Reservation is located prohibit the video poker devices. Id. (emphasis added). Respondent contends because state law now prohibits video poker devices, Respondent may not give permission to third parties to place and maintain video poker machines on its Reservation. Respondent further contends, as a sovereign, it may now operate the devices on its Reservation if its governing body authorizes the operation because the counties where the Reservation is located prohibit them.

The cardinal rule of statutory construction is to ascertain and effectuate the intent of the legislature. Burns v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 297 S.C. 520, 522, 377 S.E.2d 569, 570 (1989). If a statute's language is plain, unambiguous, and conveys a clear meaning, then "the rules of statutory interpretation are not needed and the court has no right to impose another meaning." Hodges v. Rainey, 341 S.C. 79, 85, 533 S.E.2d 578, 581 (2000). The words of the statute must be given their plain and ordinary meaning without resorting to subtle or forced construction to limit or expand the statute's operation. Hitachi Data Sys. Corp. v. Leatherman, 309 S.C. 174, 178, 420 S.E.2d 843, 846 (1992).

The language of § 27-16-110(G) is unambiguous.⁵ The first sentence of § 27-16-110(G) provides that Respondent may permit video poker or similar electronic play devices on its Reservation "to the same extent that the devices are authorized by state law." "[P]ermit" as used in the first sentence means "[t]o allow." Black's Law Dictionary 1160 (7th ed.1999). Under the plain language of § 27-16-110(G), Respondent may allow video poker devices on its Reservation, either by its own operation or a third-party's operation, to the same extent state law authorizes the devices. The terms permit and operate must be interpreted as such to effectuate the intent of the legislature.⁶ Furthermore, we reject Respondent's proposed construction of § 27-16-110(G) because such construction would create an absurd result, which the legislature clearly did not intend. See Kiriakides v. United Artists Communications, Inc., 312 S.C. 271, 275, 440 S.E.2d 364, 366 (1994) ("However plain the ordinary meaning of the words used in a statute may be, the courts will reject that meaning when to accept it would lead to a result so plainly absurd that it could not possibly have been intended by the Legislature or would defeat the plain legislative intention.... If possible, the court will construe the statute so as to escape the absurdity and carry the intention into effect.") (citing Stackhouse v. Rowland, 86 S.C. 419, 422, 68 S.E. 561, 562 (1910)). The legislative intent was to circumscribe Respondent's right to allow video poker devices on its Reservation, either by its own operation or a third-party's operation, to the extent state law allowed the devices.⁷

Respondent contends unlike § 27-16-110(F), which requires its bingo license to be "revoked if the game of bingo is no longer licensed by the State," § 27-16-110(G) does not include language requiring the termination of Respondent's possession or operation of video poker devices if state law bans the...