Practice Area

Taxation

Hogen Adams attorneys have decades of experience advising tribes and their business partners about the tax consequences of business transactions and of changes to state and federal law. We have negotiated tax agreements with state, local, and federal agencies, but where negotiation is not a realistic option, we don’t shy from litigation. For example, our lawyers won a significant victory for tribal interests when they persuaded the South Dakota Supreme Court to forbid the State from imposing its motor-fuel taxes on Indians on South Dakota reservations. We have particular expertise in litigation concerning jurisdiction to tax tribal assets, tribal activities, tribal income, and on-reservation businesses.

In addition, we have:

  • Favorably resolved state sales-tax disputes;
  • Drafted comprehensive tribal tax codes ranging from hotel-occupancy to motor-vehicle ­fuel taxes; and
  • Negotiated tribal-state tax agreements covering the application of taxation systems, share of revenue, and payments in lieu of taxes.
    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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