The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals held that an Indian Tribe cannot give jurisdiction over tort claims against it to state courts. In Navajo Nation; Northern Edge Casino, 896 F.3d 1116 (10th Cir. 2018) plaintiffs sued the Navajo Nation in a New Mexico state court for injuries received in a casino owned by the Navajo Nation. That court, on the basis of a New Mexico Supreme Court decision, held that the Tribes grant of tort jurisdiction in a compact with the state was valid. The Tribe then filed a declaratory judgment suit in U.S. District Court but that court also held that the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (?IRGA?) permitted Tribes to agree to shift jurisdiction to the state courts. The Tribe appealed.
The Court of Appeals analyzed the provisions of the IRGA relating to shifting jurisdiction and held that it did not permit shifting jurisdiction of tort claims to state courts and said…
?We respectfully conclude that the reading of IGRA that we adopt here is the correct one, and that the district court and the New Mexico Supreme Court are mistaken.?