In another blow for the city of Duluth, Minnesota, on May 8, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit overturned a 2013 district court decision and ruled that the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians does not owe the city – million from past casino revenue-sharing.
Writing the unanimous decision for the appeals court, Judge Diana E. Murphy wrote that the purpose of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was to ensure that tribes are the “primary beneficiaries” of their casinos.
The district court had ruled the tribe should pay $10-13 million in back payments and interest from earnings of the Fond-du-Luth Casino from 2009 through 2011. The band stopped paying a portion of revenue in 2009 under the belief it was violating IGRA. Then in 2011, the National Indian Gaming Commission ordered the tribe to stop the payments.
Fond Du Lac Chairwoman Karen Diver said, “The band is pleased with the ruling which continues to affirm that the payments to the city were illegal. The city’s arguments have been consistently rejected by the courts yet they persist in litigating. Further, the Band has paid $80 million to date.”
Duluth officials said the tribe, which does not pay property taxes, should pay its share for street maintenance, law enforcement and tourism promotion. Duluth City Attorney Gunnar Johnson, said, “If the city doesn’t get that money then we still have to pay that debt and where will that money come from? I don’t know, you really can get it two ways. You can raise taxes on the people that are paying taxes in the city of Duluth or you can cut services and neither of them are really options exciting to think about.”
There’s still more litigation ahead in the battle. A district judge will receive the case again and the city may ask for a re-hearing or appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court if it prevails in another case related to the matter.
