Sovereign Immunity Did Not Apply to Golf Course Owned by Seneca Nation

The Fourth Department, in a full-fledged opinion by Justice Peradotto, determined the Lewiston Golf Course Corporation (LGCC) was not an “arm” of the Seneca Nation and, therefore, was not entitled to sovereign immunity and could be sued in New York courts:

It is well settled that “Indian tribes are immune from lawsuits in both state and federal court unless ‘Congress has authorized the suit or the tribe has waived its immunity’ ” … . Less settled is the law governing whether, and to what extent, economic entities created by a tribe share in the tribe’s immunity from suit … .“Tribal subagencies and corporate entities created by the Indian Nation to further governmental objectives, such as providing housing, health and welfare services, may also possess attributes of tribal sovereignty, and cannot be sued absent a waiver of immunity” ….    The critical question is “whether the entity acts as an arm of the tribe so that its activities are properly deemed to be those of the tribe” … , i.e., whether the entity is “so closely allied with and dependent upon the [t]ribe that it is entitled to the protection of tribal sovereign immunity”….… [W]e conclude that LGCC is not an “arm” of the Nation and therefore falls outside the Nation’s cloak of sovereign immunity … .  Sue/Perior Concrete & Paving Inc v Lewiston Golf Course Corporation …, 478, 4th Dept, 6-14-13