The U.S. Supreme Court last week heard 60 minutes of arguments by both sides in a case where an employee of the Mohegan Tribe was personally sued for damages after the car he was driving in the tribe’s employ was involved in an accident in Connecticut where a couple suffered injuries.
The tribe claims that the employee is protected by the tribe’s sovereign immunity, just as an employee of the federal government or state government would be if the case was the same.
The case of Lewis v. Clarke was appealed from the Connecticut Supreme Court which ruled that the tribal employee was protected from personal liability, even if the accident involved non-Indians and the accident occurred off the reservation.
Some justices indicated by their questioning that they were concerned that many tribes would refuse to waive immunity in such a case and that some plaintiffs would be left without any remedy if their suffered injury.
The court hasn’t taken up a tribal sovereign immunity case since 2014, when in Michigan v. Bay Mills, the justices confirmed the doctrine of tribal sovereign immunity, including cases involving tribal businesses off the reservation. However, the court also indicated in that decision that there might be exceptions.
