Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. v. Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians

980 F. Supp. 2d 1078, 2013 WL 5803778, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 154592
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Wisconsin
DecidedOctober 29, 2013
DocketNo. 13-cv-372-wmc
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 980 F. Supp. 2d 1078 (Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. v. Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. v. Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, 980 F. Supp. 2d 1078, 2013 WL 5803778, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 154592 (W.D. Wis. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION & ORDER

WILLIAM M. CONLEY, District Judge.

In this civil action, plaintiffs seek (1) a declaration that a Tribal Court for the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians (the “Tribe”) lacks subject-matter jurisdiction over them and (2) an injunction preventing any further action by the Tribe and the Lake of the Torches Economic Development Corporation in a recently-filed matter against plaintiffs in that forum. Before the court now is defendants’ motion to dismiss for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction under Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1). (Dkt. # 46.) The court will deny defendants’ motion because (1) the arguments defendants advance go directly to the merits of the underlying disputes; and (2) neither logic nor law supports resolving the merits under the guise of a jurisdictional challenge.

BACKGROUND

A. The Commercial Transaction

Defendant Lake of the Torches Economic Development Corporation (“Lake of the Torches”) is a corporation established under tribal law and wholly owned by defendant Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, a federally-recognized Indian tribe organized under Section 16 of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 (25 U.S.C. §§ 461 et seq.). In January 2008, Lake of the Torches issued $50 million in bonds and sold them to a brokerage firm, plaintiff Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Inc. (“Stifel Nicolaus”). In turn, Stifel Nicolaus sold the bonds to plaintiff LDF Acquisition, LLC (“LDF”), a special purpose vehicle created by plaintiff Saybrook Tax Exempt Investors, LLC, predecessor in interest to plaintiff Say-brook Fund Investors, LLC (“Saybrook”). Plaintiff Godfrey & Kahn, S.C., a law firm, advised the parties on this complex transaction (the “Transaction”).

The Transaction involved multiple written contracts. Among other contracts, these included the terms of the bonds themselves, a bond purchase agreement and a Trust Indenture Agreement, the latter of which provided a description of the means by which Lake of the Torches would repay its debt. The Trust Inden[1081]*1081ture Agreement designated plaintiff Wells Fargo Bank as the trustee. The Tribe and Wells Fargo also executed a Tribal Agreement dated January 1, 2008, in which the Tribe guaranteed payment of the obligations of Lake of the Torches for payment of both principal and interest on the bonds.

Unfortunately, the various contracts include slightly differing versions of the Tribe’s waiver of sovereign immunity, as well as consent to the jurisdiction of the District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin and, should the district court fail to exercise jurisdiction, of Wisconsin state courts. For example, only some documents specified that the forum selection clause was “to the exclusion of the jurisdiction of any court of the [Tribe].” (See, e.g., Specimen Bond 5 (dkt. # 1-1); Limited Offering Memorandum 19 (dkt. # 1-2); Tribal Agreement 5 (dkt. # 1-9).)

B. Federal Litigation

When Lake of the Torches allegedly repudiated the bonds in 2009, Wells Fargo brought suit against it in the Western District of Wisconsin for breach of the Indenture. In answering, Lake of the Torches alleged sovereign immunity as an affirmative defense, arguing that the Trust Indenture Agreement in which it had allegedly waived its sovereign immunity was void as an unapproved “management contract” that violated the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, 25 U.S.C. §§ 2701-2721 (“IGRA”), and the corresponding regulations.

Judge Rudolph Randa, sitting by designation in the Western District of Wisconsin, agreed, finding that the Trust Indenture Agreement was void under IGRA and dismissing the suit for lack of jurisdiction over Lake of the Torches. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v. Lake of Torches Econ. Dev. Corp., 677 F.Supp.2d 1056 (WD.Wis.2010) (hereinafter Wells Fargo Bank I). Wells Fargo then sought leave to amend its complaint, arguing that even if the Indenture was void, the bonds and other documents surrounding the transaction (collectively, the “Transaction Documents”) were not, and those documents also purported to waive sovereign immunity. The district court rejected this argument as well and denied the motion to amend. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v. Lake of Torches Econ. Dev. Corp., 09-CV-768, 2010 WL 1687877 (W.D.Wis. Apr. 23, 2010) (hereinafter Wells Fargo Bank II).

The Seventh Circuit affirmed the holding that the Indenture was void as an unapproved management contract, but also found that the district court had abused its discretion in denying Wells Fargo leave to amend its complaint based on the Transaction Documents. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v. Lake of Torches Econ. Dev. Corp., 658 F.3d 684 (7th Cir.2011) (hereinafter Wells Fargo Bank III). Accordingly, the case was remanded to determine whether the Transaction Documents, “read separately or together,” waived Lake of the Torches’ sovereign immunity. Id. at 702.

The Seventh Circuit also identified another, “more fundamental” issue for consideration on remand: whether Wells Fargo had standing to seek the return of the funds to the bondholder, given that the Trust Indenture Agreement was void. Id. at 701. When attempts to avoid the standing issue failed, Wells Fargo voluntarily dismissed its suit pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(1).

C. State Court Litigation

Saybrook and LDF then took up the fight in Wells Fargo’s stead, filing a 24-count complaint in Waukesha County Circuit Court that asserted a breach of bond claim against Lake of the Torches and various alternative claims for misrepresen[1082]*1082tation, securities fraud, malpractice and equitable recission. Saybrook Tax Exempt Investors, LLC v. Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, Case No. 12-CV-187 (Waukesha Cnty. Cir. Ct.). Saybrook also filed a new action in the District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin reciting essentially the same complaint with the intent of establishing that this court lacked jurisdiction, thereby triggering a contractual waiver of Lake of the Torches’ sovereign immunity in state court.

The Waukesha County Circuit Court stayed its proceedings, awaiting this court’s determination of its own jurisdiction. In March of 2013, this court determined that it lacked federal question jurisdiction over the new action under 28 U.S.C. § 1331, because the claim at issue was “unambiguously one for breach of contract under Wisconsin common law.” Saybrook Tax Exempt Investors, LLC v. Lake of Torches Econ. Dev. Corp., 929 F.Supp.2d 859 (W.D.Wis.2013). The court also ordered plaintiffs Saybrook and LDF to submit proof of Wisconsin citizenship of one of LDF’s members in order to demonstrate that the court lacked diversity jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C.

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980 F. Supp. 2d 1078, 2013 WL 5803778, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 154592, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stifel-nicolaus-co-v-lac-du-flambeau-band-of-lake-superior-chippewa-wiwd-2013.