By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services | East Valley Tribune
Private companies that do business on reservations with tribes and their corporations cannot automatically ask federal courts to intercede when legal disputes erupt, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.
In a case involving the famous Grand Canyon Skywalk, the judges rejected the arguments by the Nevada company which built the famous horseshoe-shaped glass bridge hanging over the canyon that it should be able to sue the Hualapai Tribe in federal court for taking its right to operate the attraction through condemnation. Judge Richard Tallman, writing for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said there was no reason to believe the firm could not get a fair hearing there.
Friday’s ruling, though, will have little practical impact on much of the ongoing legal dispute.
Since the case was argued before the appellate court last October, that same tribal court concluded the firm, Grand Canyon Skywalk Development, was owed $28 million in revenues for operations between 2005 and 2008. The tribal corporation responded by declaring bankruptcy.
