Tribe’s casino immune from suit

Monday, April 29, 2002 | 10 a.m.

SANTA FE, N.M. -- The state Supreme Court ruled Friday that an Indian tribe cannot be sued in state court for injuries suffered by a non-Indian at a gambling casino in 1996 when no tribal-state compact was in effect.

However, the high court's decision did not answer the legal question of whether current gambling compacts allow such personal injury lawsuits in state court against tribes with casinos.

In the case involving Tesuque Pueblo and its casino, the pueblo and several other tribes argued that provisions of the current compact that attempt to shift the jurisdiction of damage lawsuits by casino visitors to state court are invalid.

The Supreme Court did not rule on that issue, however.

Lisa Gallegos of Pojoaque was injured on Oct. 28, 1996, when she was walking from a casino parking lot. The wind blew a garbage container into her and knocked her down. Her injuries included a fractured elbow.

She sued the pueblo and its insurance company in December 1997, but a district court dismissed the case because no compact was in effect at the time of the accident and the pueblo had not waived its sovereign immunity from lawsuits. The court dismissed the pueblo's insurance company because Tesuque was an "indispensable party" to the lawsuit and it could not be sued in state court.

According to the Supreme Court opinion, the pueblo's insurance company paid only a small portion of Gallegos' medical bills, which exceeded $20,000.

The Supreme Court upheld the district court, saying it was proper to toss out the lawsuits against the pueblo and its insurance provider.