A U.S. District Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit attempting to enjoin a tribal council, 12 council members, and a federal agency in Montana. The Tribal Executive Board of the Fort Peck Reservation sought the help of Minneapolis partner Skip Durocher, the head of Dorsey’s tribal litigation team, and Jack Manning, head of Dorsey’s Missoula office and a Corporate partner, to defend against the suit.

Dorsey was engaged as special Indian law counsel to the tribe and teamed with local counsel for the litigation. The allegations in the suit concerned a federal judgment fund administered by a subgroup of the Fort Peck Tribes and the Tribal Executive Board’s authority to manage on-reservation affairs. Working on a short timeline, Skip Durocher and Wilda Wahpepah produced a responsive brief that persuaded the judge to deny a Temporary Restraining Order against the Tribal Executive Board. Dorsey then followed up with a Motion to Dismiss the action on grounds that the Tribal Executive Board had not waived its immunity to suit, the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the dispute, and even if jurisdiction existed, the matter was time-barred.

The District Court issued a Memorandum and Order on May 8, 2008, granting the Tribal Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss and denying the Plaintiff’s motion for an injunction as moot.