Practice Area

Governance

Good tribal governance and strong laws go hand in hand. Hogen Adams attorneys have worked in-house with tribes and as outside counsel to draft, review, and revise all types of tribal laws, from resolutions and ordinances to constitutions and bylaws.

We have:

  • Assisted tribes in drafting and administering judicial codes, probate codes, civil and criminal codes, juvenile codes, and a variety of other laws;
  • Developed trust and other benefit programs for tribal minors and adults; assisted tribes in negotiating and administering self-determination contracts;
  • Developed tribal employment policies and procedures;
  • Assisted tribes in implementing business-licensing ordinances, natural-resource regulations, zoning and building codes, ordinances governing tribal-business-enterprise development, and tribal membership;
  • Drafted comprehensive tribal codes to govern all aspects of on-reservation commercial activity and taxation;
  • Drafted law-enforcement agreements between tribes and local law-enforcement authorities to empower tribal police to provide services throughout reservations; and
  • Revised existing tribal constitutions and assisted tribes through all stages of securing approvals necessary to hold a federal secretarial election.
Sovereign Immunity
  • Jacobs v. Creapeau,No. 2:24-cv-00212 (E.D. Wis. 2024)
  • Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians v. Coughlin, 599 U.S. __, 143 S. Ct. 1689 (2023)
  • Mestek v. Lac Courte Oreilles Community Health Center,72 F.4th 255 (7th Cir. 2023)
  • Fitzgerald v. Wildcat,No. 3:20-cv-00044 (W.D. Va. Aug. 18, 2023).
  • Coughlin v. Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians,33 F.4th 600 (1st Cir. 2022)
  • Miller v. Stockbridge-Munsee Community,No. 2017-AA-0004 (Stockbridge-Munsee Tribal Court 2021)
  • Jones v. Wildcat et al.,No. 19-CV-2493-JS (E.D. Pa. 2019)
  • Bruguier v. Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians,237 F. Supp. 3d 867 (W.D. Wis. 2017)
  • Harris v. Lake of the Torches Resort & Casino,862 N.W.2d 903 (Wis. Ct. App. 2015)
  • Wells Fargo Bank, Nat. Ass’n v. Lake of the Torches Econ. Dev. Corp.,658 F.3d 684 (7th Cir. 2011)
  • Gavle v. Little Six, Inc.555 N.W.2d 284 (Minn. 1996), cert. denied 524 U.S. 911 (1998)
Indian Gaming
  • Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians v. Haaland No. 23-5076 (D.C. Cir. June 28, 2024)
  • St. Croix Chippewa Indians v. Stuart Bearheart; Carmen Bugg; Duane Emery; Elmer Emery; Lawrence Larsen; Leva Oustigoff; Crystal Peterson; Jeff Taylor; Kate Wolfe Taylor, Nos. 20-CV-200—211 (St. Croix Tribal Court 2020 – present)
  • Saybrook Tax-Exempt Investors, Inc. v. Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians (Wis. Cir. Ct., Dec. 13, 2016)
  • City of Duluth v. Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, 702 F.3d 1147 (8th Cir. 2013)
  • Michigan v. Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, 737 F.3d 1075 (6th Cir. 2013)
  • Wells Fargo Bank, Nat. Ass’n v. Lake of the Torches Econ. Dev. Corp., 658 F.3d 684 (7th Cir. 2011)
  • K&D Gaming v. Osage Nation (Arbitration 2007)
Treaty rights, reservation boundaries, and tribal jurisdiction
  • Pollard v. Johnson, 694 F. Supp. 3d 1080 (W.D. Wis. 2023)
  • Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, et al. v. Evers, 46 F.4th 552 (7th Cir. 2022)
  • Lac Courte Oreilles Indian Tribe v. Wisconsin, No. 74-C-313-C (W.D. Wis. 2012 – present)
  • Oneida Nation v. Village of Hobart, 968 F.3d 664 (7th Cir. 2020)
  • Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians v. Whitmer, 398 F. Supp. 3d 201 (W.D. Mich. 2019)
  • Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe v. Granholm, No. 1:2005-cv-10296 (E.D. Mich. 2010)
  • Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians v. Minnesota 526 U.S. 172 (1999)
  • Melby v. Grand Portage Band of Chippewa, No. CIV 97-2065, 1998 WL 1769706 (D. Minn. 1998)
  • Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness v. Bosworth, 437 F.3d 815 (8th Cir. 2006)
Commercial disputes
  • Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe v. Vungarala, et al  (FINRA Arbitration 2019)
  • Eddie L. Cressy v. OM Financial Life Insurance Co.,No. 2:11-cv-05871 (C.D. Cal. 2013)
  • Waste Management of Minnesota, Inc. v. Lance,No. 19HA-CV-12635 (D. Minn. 2013)
  • DT-Trak Consulting, Inc. v. Prue,814 N.W.2d 804 (S.D. 2012)
  • Sidney Small v. RBC Wealth Management and Timothy David Disparte (FINRA Arbitration 2010)
Tribal-court exhaustion, Public Law 83-280, and concurrent jurisdiction
  • Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians v. Howard Bros., No. 23-CV-109 (Lac du Flambeau Tribal Court 2023- present)
  • Stifel, Nicolaus Co., Inc. v. Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, 807 F.3d 184 (7th Cir. 2015)
  • Lake of the Torches Econ. Dev. Corp. v. Saybrook Tax Exempt Investors, LLC, (Lac du Flambeau Tribal Court 2013)
  • Miodowski v. Miodowski,  No. 8:06-cv-443, 2006 WL 3454797 (D. Neb. 2006)
  • Melby v. Grand Portage Band of Chippewa, No. CIV 97-2065, 1998 WL 1769706 (D. Minn. 1998)
  • State v. Stone,  572 N.W.2d 725 (Minn. 1997)
Environmental law
  • In the Matter of the September 29, 2022, Approval of Howard Bros. Inc.’s Application of Septage on the Plummer 7 Lot, in the Town of Lac du Flambeau, County of Vilas, State of Wisconsin, No. DNR 23-0001 (Wis. Div. Hrg. App. 2024)
  • Summit Lake Paiute Tribe of Nevada v. United States Bureau of Land Management, 496 Fed. Appx. 712 (9th Cir. 2012)
  • Summit Lake Paiute Tribe of Nevada v. Federal Energy Regulatory Comm’n, No. 10-1389 (D.C. Cir. 2011)
  • Wisconsin v. Environmental Protection Agency, 266 F.3d 741 (7th Cir. 2001)
Administrative law
  • Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians v. Haaland, 25 F.4th 12 (D.C. Cir. 2022)
  • St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin v. Kempthorne, 535 F. Supp. 2d 33 (D.D.C. 2008)
  • Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Cmty. v. Babbitt, 107 F.3d 667 (8th Cir. 1997)
Tribal Membership issues
  • St. Pierre v. Norton, 498 F. Supp. 2d 214 (D.D.C. 2007)
  • Smith v. Babbitt, 100 F.3d 556 (8th Cir. 1996)
  • Feezor v. Babbit, 953 F. Supp. 1 (D.D.C. 1996)
Tribal Land and Asset Taxability
  • Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa v. Evers, 46 F.4th 552 (7th Cir. 2022)
  • Tunica-Biloxi Tribe v. Bridges, 437 F. Supp. 2d 599 (M.D. La. 2006)
  • Pourier v. South Dakota Dep’t of Revenue, 658 N.W.2d 395 (S.D. 2003), vacated in part by 674 N.W.2d 314 (S.D. 2004), cert. denied 541 U.S. 1064 (2004)
Trademarks
  • Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan v. Hebei Red Eagle Industrial and Trade Co. Ltd., Cancellation No. 92057445 (USPTO Trademark Trial and Appeal Board 2013)
  • Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan v. Coastal Wine Merchants, Opposition No. 91210751 (USPTO Trademark Trial and Appeal Board 2013)
National Labor Relations Act and unionization issues
  • Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort v. Int’l Union, United Auto., Aerospace, and Agric. Implement Workers of Am., Case No. 07-CA-053586 (2016)
  • Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort v. National Labor Relations Board, 791 F.3d 648 (6th Cir. 2015)
  • Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan v. National Labor Relations Board, 838 F. Supp. 2d 598 (E.D. Mich. 2011).
Healthcare
  • Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians v. McKesson Corp. et al., No. 18-cv-00286 (W.D. Wisc. 2018)

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