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JULY 7, 2000

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court of Wisconsin told the Ashland County Circuit Court and the tribal court of the Bad River Ojibwe to cooperate and resolve a jurisdictional conflict involving the case of a fired casino manager.

The State Supreme Court said the two courts should meet and mutually decide on jurisdiction. Since the casino manager filed the case in the county court, the competition between the county and tribe to reach a judgement in the case created "an adversarial atmosphere" thereby wasting judicial resources.

Both the county court and tribal court had already made their own rulings on the issue, causing the conflict. A Wisconsin state statute affords full faith and credit to tribal court decisions but the Court concluded the matter was one of cooperation, not necessarily tribal sovereignty.

The tribe court had earlier asserted sovereign immunity before the county circuit court and asked that the suit filed by Teague against the tribe for breach of contract be dismissed. But the county ruled in favor of Teague, leading the tribe to bring the case to its own court.

Teague challenged the tribal court's ruling, claiming that since he filed his case first, he won the "race to the courthouse." The Supremem Court disagreed, ordering the parties to cooperate.

Get the Decisions:
Teague v. Bad River Band, No. 98-3484 (Wisconsin Supreme Court 7/6)
Teague v. Bad River Band, No. 98-3150 (Wisconsin Supreme Court 7/6)

Get the Story:
Supreme Court directs tribal and circuit courts to cooperate (AP 7/6)

Relevant Links:
The Wisconsin Supreme Court - www.courts.state.wi.us/WCS/sc.html