by: Gale Courey Toensing
AKWESASNE, N.Y. - The BIA has recognized the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe's existing governing body and its tribal court in a ruling that supports the tribe's $2.8 billion claim against Harrah's Entertainment Inc.
In an Oct. 31 decision, BIA Eastern Region Director Franklin Keel said the Indian agency affirmed the Mohawks' three-chief system as the tribe's representative body with which it will conduct government-to-government relations.
Additionally, Keel said that all of the agency's previous decisions invalidating the tribal court have been vacated by a federal court and ''as a matter of law are now no longer extant.''
This was the third time in 11 years that the BIA had ruled on the tribal governance issue.
The decision reiterates the authority of the tribal court's March 2001 default judgment against Harrah's for $1.8 billion in compensatory and punitive damages for unlawfully interfering in the tribe's efforts to establish a casino at Monticello Gaming and Raceway.
Want to know more? Click here: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096416089
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment