Payne ex rel. Estate of Hamrick v. Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians

159 F. Supp. 3d 724, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 176192, 2015 WL 10044291
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Mississippi
DecidedApril 17, 2015
DocketCIVIL ACTION NO. 3:15CV105TSL-RHW
StatusPublished

This text of 159 F. Supp. 3d 724 (Payne ex rel. Estate of Hamrick v. Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Payne ex rel. Estate of Hamrick v. Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, 159 F. Supp. 3d 724, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 176192, 2015 WL 10044291 (S.D. Miss. 2015).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

Tom S. Lee, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

This cause is before the court on the motion of defendants Mississippi Band of Choctaw ' Indians d/b/a Choctaw Resort Development Enterprise, to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1). Plaintiff Kenny Payne, on behalf of the Estate of Betty Sue Hamrick and all wrongful death beneficiaries of Betty Sue Hamrick, has responded in opposition to the motion. The court, having considered the memo-randa of authorities, together with attachments, submitted by the parties, concludes that the motion is well taken and should be granted.

The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, through the Choctaw Resort Development Enterprise, owns and operates Pearl River Resort, which includes the Silver Star Hotel and Casino located in Philadelphia, Mississippi. According to the allegations of the complaint in this cause, on July 29, 2014, Betty Sue Hamrick slipped and fell in a restroom at the Silver Star Casino, sustaining bruises and a fractured shoulder. Three days later, she was found dead in her home in Alabaster, Alabama. The death certificate reflected the cause of death as a probable pulmonary embolus resulting from her fractured shoulder.

Contending that Betty Sue Hamrick’s slip and fall and, ultimately her death, were caused by the negligent maintenance of the casino bathroom, Hamrick’s son Kenny Payne filed the present wrongful death action in this court on February 17, 2015, naming as defendants Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians d/b/a Choctaw Resort Development Enterprise, Choctaw Resort Development, Inc., Pearl River Resort and Silver Star Casino. Payne, a citizen of Alabama, asserted diversity of citizenship under 28 U.S.C. § 1332 as the sole basis for federal jurisdiction. In response to the complaint, defendant Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians d/b/a Choctaw Resort Development Enterprise filed its motion to dismiss, contending that since Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians d/b/a Choctaw Resort Development Enterprise is a federally recognized Indian tribe, it is not a citizen of any State for purposes of diversity jurisdiction and there thus does not exist any basis for the exercise of diversity jurisdiction in this case.

The federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction, possessing only such power as authorized by the Constitution and by statute. Energy Mgmt. Servs., LLC v. City of Alexandria, 739 F.3d 255, 257 (5th Cir.2014) (citing Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of Am., 511 U.S. 375, 377, 114 S.Ct. 1673, 128 L.Ed.2d 391 (1994)). “Tt is to be presumed that a cause lies outside this limited jurisdiction, and the burden of establishing the contrary rests upon the party asserting jurisdiction.’ ” Id. (quoting Kokkonen, 511 U.S. at 377, 114 S.Ct. 1673). In a case that does not concern a federal question, the party seeking to invoke federal jurisdiction bears the burden of establishing jurisdiction based on diversity of citizenship in accordance with 28 U.S.C. § 1332. Garcia v. Koch Oil Co. of Tex. Inc., 351 F.3d 636, 638 (5th Cir.2003). This means plaintiff must establish that complete diversity exists, for without it, this court does not have subject matter jurisdiction over this action.

The diversity jurisdiction statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1332, states in relevant part:

(a) The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of all civil actions where the matter in controversy exceeds the [726]*726sum or value of $75,000, exclusive of interest and costs, and is between—
(1) citizens of different States;
(2) citizens of a State and citizens or subjects of a foreign state, except that the district courts shall not have original jurisdiction under this subsection of an action between citizens of a State and citizens or subjects of a foreign state who are lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States and are domiciled in the same State;
(3) citizens of different States and in which citizens or subjects of a foreign state are additional parties; and
(4) a foreign state, defined in section 1603(a) of this title, as plaintiff and citizens of a State or of different States.

It is settled that Indian tribes are not foreign states. See Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 5 Pet. (30 U.S.) 1, 16-18, 8 L.Ed. 25 (1831). Further, while there are no Supreme Court or Fifth Circuit cases addressing the issue, virtually all courts that have considered the issue have held that Indian tribes are not citizens of any state for the purpose of diversity jurisdiction. As one court explained,

The status of Indian tribes as sovereign entities, and as federal dependents, contradicts conventional notions of citizenship in general and state citizenship in particular. A citizen is “[a] person who ... is a member of a political community, owing allegiance to the community and being entitled to enjoy all its civil rights and protections.... ” Tribes fall outside this definition. Rather than belonging to state political communities, they themselves are “distinct, independent political communities.” Tribes also owe no allegiance to a state ... Moreover, tribal sovereignty and federal plenary power over Indian affairs, taken together, sharply circumscribe the power of the states to impose citizen-like responsibilities on Indian tribes.

Am. Vantage Cos., Inc. v. Table Mountain Rancheria, 292 F.3d 1091, 1096 (9th Cir.2002) (internal citations omitted). See also Frazier v. Brophy, 358 Fed.Appx. 212, 213 (2d Cir.2009) (conclusion that Indian tribe is not a citizen of any state “accords with the treatment of other domestic sovereigns, such as states, which cannot sue or be sued in diversity”); Altheimer & Gray v. Sioux Mfg. Corp., 983 F.2d 803, 812 (7th Cir.1993) (explaining that “Indian tribes are considered ‘domestic dependent nations’ which exercise inherent sovereign authority over their members and territories.”) (citations omitted). Tribes are thus viewed as “stateless” entities that may not sue or be sued in federal court under § 1332. See Wells Fargo Bank, Nat. Ass’n v. Lake of the Torches Economic Dev. Corp., 658 F.3d 684, 692-93 (7th Cir.2011) (“[M]ost courts agree that Indian tribes are not citizens of any state for purposes of the diversity statute and therefore may not sue or be sued in federal court under § 1332.”); Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida v. Kraus-Anderson Constr. Co.,

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Related

Garcia v. Koch Oil Co. of Texas Inc.
351 F.3d 636 (Fifth Circuit, 2003)
Cherokee Nation v. State of Georgia
30 U.S. 1 (Supreme Court, 1831)
Newman-Green, Inc. v. Alfonzo-Larrain
490 U.S. 826 (Supreme Court, 1989)
Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America
511 U.S. 375 (Supreme Court, 1994)
Cook v. AVI Casino Enterprises, Inc.
548 F.3d 718 (Ninth Circuit, 2008)
Abdo v. Fort Randall Casino
957 F. Supp. 1111 (D. South Dakota, 1997)
Romanella v. Hayward
114 F.3d 15 (Second Circuit, 1997)
Frazier v. Brophy
358 F. App'x 212 (Second Circuit, 2009)

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Bluebook (online)
159 F. Supp. 3d 724, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 176192, 2015 WL 10044291, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/payne-ex-rel-estate-of-hamrick-v-mississippi-band-of-choctaw-indians-mssd-2015.