Thursday, Jan. 6, 2005 | 9:28 a.m.
DETROIT -- A federal appeals court has asked lawyers for MGM Grand Detroit Casino and an American Indian tribe to file briefs in the tribe's lawsuit over the way the city's three casino franchises were awarded.
Lawyers for the casino, owned by Las Vegas-based MGM Mirage Inc., in May asked the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati to reconsider a lower court's ruling in the lawsuit by the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians.
The appeals court on Dec. 20 ordered lawyers to file briefs in January and February, representatives of both sides said Wednesday.
MGM Grand had appealed U.S. District Judge Robert Holmes Bell's April decision to approve a tentative deal in which the Greektown and MotorCity casinos would pay the tribe $39.5 million each to settle the suit.
Claiming Detroit's 1997 casino selection process was unfair, the tribe sued the three casinos and the city that year. The tribe operates its own casino in the Upper Peninsula village of Watersmeet.
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