United States Ninth Circuit

In this case assessing the effect of the Yakama Treaty of 1855 on the responsibility of a tobacco company owned and operated by a member of the Yakama Indian Nation, summary judgment against plaintiff King Mountain Tobacco is affirmed, where: 1) Washington’s escrow statute requiring tobacco companies to place money from cigarette sales into escrow to reimburse the State for healthcare costs is nondiscriminatory; 2) King Mountain was operated largely off-reservation; 3) absent express federal law to the contrary, King Mountain was subject to the escrow statute; and 4) the plain text of the Yakama Treaty did not create a federal exemption from the escrow statute.

Appellate Information

• Decided 09/26/2014
• Published 09/26/2014

Judges

• Christen

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel