United States Ninth Circuit

In a tort dispute arising from an accident on a public highway on a Native American Reservation, dismissal of plaintiff's claim by the tribal court is reversed as it did not have the adjudicative authority to exercise civil subject matter jurisdiction over a non-tribal member.

Appellate Information

• Argued 06/23/2005
• Decided 08/06/2004
• Published 08/09/2004

Judges

• BYBEE, Circuit Judge., Before SCHROEDER, Chief Judge, RYMER, HAWKINS, SILVERMAN, GRABER, GOULD, PAEZ, BERZON, CLIFTON, BYBEE, and CALLAHAN, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Rex Palmer, Attorneys Inc., P.C., Missoula, MT, for the plaintiff-appellant., Mary L. Smith, Washington, D.C., for amicus curiae National Congress of American Indians.


• For Appellees:
  
• Robert J. Phillips, Phillips & Bohyer, P.C., Missoula, MT, for defendant-appellee Salish Kootenai College;  John T. Harrison, Legal Department, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Indian Reservation, Pablo, MT, for defendant-appellee Court of Appeals of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation.