United States Ninth Circuit

Judgment for defendant pursuant to a jury verdict in tribal court on claims arising out of an automobile accident is affirmed where plaintiff, a non-Indian, consented to the civil jurisdiction of a tribal court by filing claims against an Indian defendant arising out of activities within the reservation where the defendant was located.

Appellate Information

• Argued 06/23/2005
• Decided 01/10/2006
• Published 01/10/2006

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.