Meyer & Assoc. v. Coushatta Tribe of La.

• Decision Date: 23 September 2008
• Docket Number: No. 2007-CC-2256.,2007-CC-2256.
• Citation: 992 So.2d 446
• Parties: MEYER & ASSOCIATES, INC. v. COUSHATTA TRIBE OF LOUISIANA.
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

992 So.2d 446

MEYER & ASSOCIATES, INC. v. COUSHATTA TRIBE OF LOUISIANA.

No. 2007-CC-2256.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

September 23, 2008.

Rehearing Denied November 10, 2008.

Carleton, Dunlap, Olinde, Moore & Bohman, Richard Phillip Ieyoub, James Elwood Moore, Jr., Baton Rouge, Modrall, Sperling, Roehl, Harris & Sisk, Lynn H. Slade, Pro Hac Vice, for applicant.

Vilar & Elliott, Charles D. Elliott, Alexandria, Aaron L. Green, for respondent.

TRAYLOR, J.

We granted this writ application to determine whether the court of appeal erred in reversing the judgment of the trial court. For the reasons which follow, we reverse the ruling of the court of appeal and reinstate the judgment of the trial court.

FACTS and PROCEDURAL HISTORY

In December of 2001, the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana ("CTOL" or "the Tribe"), a federally recognized Indian Tribe, entered into an "Agreement for Professional Services" with Meyer and Associates, Inc. ("Meyer"), for general engineering and construction services. This contract, signed by Lovelin Poncho, then the Chairman of the Coushatta Tribal Council, provided that the contract would be governed by the laws of the State of Louisiana, that any disputes would be settled by binding arbitration according to the rules of the American Arbitration Association, and that the arbitration would be enforced in the Tribal Court.

Some time later, Meyer and the Tribe decided to jointly develop an electric power plant. The development, as contemplated, would involve major financial investments from businesses, cooperatives, and municipalities. On January 14, 2003, the Tribal Council passed Resolution 2003-04, authorizing the Chairman to negotiate and execute all necessary agreements with Meyer as may be required to enable the complete development and implementation of the power program, as well as to negotiate and execute necessary memorandums of agreement (MOA) with various companies and municipalities as may be necessary to develop and implement the program. R. at 98-105.

During the same period of time, the Tribe, through Chairman Poncho, and Meyer entered into an "Interim and Definitive Supplemental Agreement to Existing Agreement for CTOL Power Program," which modified the original "Agreement for Professional Services." This interim agreement was executed "with Effective Date of CTOL Resolution 2003-04 or January 14, 2003." R. at 114. The interim agreement stated, among other things, that the two agreements and "amendments thereto shall be interpreted, governed and construed under the laws of the State of Louisiana without regard to applicable conflict of laws provisions," that the Tribe "irrevocably consent[ed] to the jurisdiction of the courts of the State of Louisiana," that "any dispute arising hereunder shall be heard by a court of competent jurisdiction in the Parish of Allen, or any other Parish mutually agreed to," and that the "CTOL, specifically waives any rights, claims, or defenses to sovereign immunity it may have as it relates to this Agreement except this waiver is limited at this time to Development Phase 2 Services." R. at 113-14.

Between April and September 2003, the Tribe executed memorandums of understanding (MOU) with Valley Electric Membership Cooperation ("Valley") and the cities of Natchitoches, Minden, and Ruston, Louisiana. The Valley MOU contained a forum selection clause agreeing that disputes would be litigated in a court of competent jurisdiction in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, and a waiver of the Tribe's sovereign immunity. The remaining MOU's contained similar forum selection clauses indicating that disputes would be litigated under the laws of the State of Louisiana in courts of competent jurisdiction in appropriate venues, as well as waivers of sovereign immunity.

In June of 2005, the Tribe elected a new Tribal Council and Chairman.

On April 21, 2006, the Tribe filed suit in Tribal Court against Meyer for damages related to the various contracts. On June 9, 2006, Meyer filed suit against the Tribe in the Fourteenth Judicial District Court for breach of contract. On July 7, 2006, the Tribe filed Exceptions of Lis Pendens and Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction in the district court. The district court denied the Exception of Lis Pendens on October 31, 2006, and on November 6, 2006, the district court denied the Exception of Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction. On August 8, 2007, the court of appeal applied the federal exhaustion of tribal remedies doctrine and stayed the matter, determining that the district court should have allowed the Tribal Court the opportunity to decide whether the Tribe had waived its sovereign immunity. This Court granted writs in order to determine the propriety of the court of appeal's ruling.

DISCUSSION

The issues before the Court are twofold: (1) Whether the district court should have stayed this matter in accordance with the exhaustion of tribal remedies doctrine in order to allow the Tribal Court to decide whether the Tribe had waived its sovereign immunity, and (2), if not, whether the Tribe waived its sovereign immunity such that it was amenable to suit in the district court.

The exhaustion of tribal remedies doctrine is a jurisprudential rule developed by the federal courts in order to promote tribal sovereignty. The doctrine holds that when federal and tribal courts have concurrent jurisdiction, or when a tribal court has even a "colorable claim" of jurisdiction, federal courts will afford the tribal courts the opportunity to first determine their jurisdiction. Ninigret Development Corp. v. Narragansett Indian Wetuomuck Housing Authority, 207 F.3rd 21, 28 (1st Cir.2000).

As ably explained by the court of appeal in this matter:

The federal government favors and encourages tribal self-government, and in furtherance of these policies, the Supreme Court has held that a tribe whose jurisdiction has been challenged should have the first opportunity to determine the validity of such a challenge. In Iowa [Mut. Ins. Co. v. LaPlante, 480 U.S. 9, 107 S.Ct. 971, 94 L.Ed.2d 10 (1987) ], the Court stated, "[r]egardless of the basis for jurisdiction, the federal policy supporting tribal self-government directs a federal court to stay its hand in order to give the tribal court a `full opportunity to determine its own jurisdiction.'" This policy favors abstention by non-tribal courts to allow self-government and self-determination by Indian tribes of which tribal courts play an important role. The policy allows tribal courts to be the first to respond to an invocation of a challenge to their jurisdiction. It is prudential not jurisdictional. Therefore, it does not establish adjudicatory authority over lawsuits filed in tribal courts. A tribal court's determination that it had jurisdiction is reviewable after tribal remedies have been exhausted.

* * *

Being a prudential rule, the doctrine is applied as a matter of comity. Comity is a discretionary policy where "the courts of one state give effect to the laws of another state or extend immunity to a sister sovereign not as a rule of law but rather out of deference or respect. Courts extend immunity as a matter of comity to foster cooperation, promote harmony, and build goodwill." Unless there is an abuse of discretion by the trial court, the decision not to extend comity should not be overturned.

Meyer and Assoc., Inc. v. Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, 2006-1542 (La.App. 3 Cir. 8/8/07) 965 So.2d 930, 934-5.

As related by the court of appeal, the United States Supreme Court has never held that the exhaustion of tribal remedies doctrine applies to the states. If we assume that the doctrine does apply to state courts, it is axiomatic that the jurisdiction of the state court must be determined prior to the doctrine's application. The doctrine applies only when a federal court (or hypothetically, here, a state court) and a tribal court share jurisdiction. The doctrine mandates that a court with jurisdiction allow a tribal court which may have jurisdiction to determine its own jurisdictional question. If a state or federal court did not have jurisdiction, there would be no need to apply the doctrine. Instead, the state or federal court would decline to proceed with the case based on lack of subject matter jurisdiction. In any event, the doctrine does not mandate that tribal courts be allowed to determine whether or not non-tribal courts have concurrent jurisdiction.

Our determination that state courts are the arbiters of their own jurisdiction is bolstered by previous holdings by courts of appeal in this State. In Ortego v. Tunica Biloxi Indians of Louisiana d/b/a Paragon Casino, 03-1001 (La.App. 3 Cir. 2/4/04), 865 So.2d 985, writ denied, 04-587 (La.4/23/04), 870 So.2d 306, the court of appeal determined that the trial court did not have jurisdiction over the matter because there was no valid waiver of sovereign immunity rather than because of the tribal exhaustion doctrine. Likewise, in the case of Bonnette v. Tunica-Biloxi Indians, 02-919, 02-920, 02-921 (La.App. 3 Cir. 5/28/03), 873 So.2d 1, the court of appeal dismissed the suit due to the lack of a valid waiver of sovereign immunity.

For these reasons, the district court did not err in entertaining the issue of whether or not it had subject matter jurisdiction, and because the issue of the district court's subject matter jurisdiction revolved around whether the Tribe had validly waived its sovereign immunity, the district court did not err in declining to defer to the Tribal Court on that issue.

With regard to the waiver, an Indian tribe is subject to suit in state courts only where Congress has authorized the suit or the tribe has waived its immunity. Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma v. Manufacturing Technologies, Inc., 523 U.S. 751, 754, 118 S.Ct. 1700, 1702, 140 L.Ed.2d 981 (1998). Congress' authorization for suit must be unequivocal and a tribe's waiver must be clear. C & L Enterprises, Inc. v. Citizen Band of Potawatomi Indian...