|
Judge dismisses ex-employee's case against Turning Stone Federal court decision upholds Oneida Nation's immunity from lawsuits. Tuesday, March 31, 2009 By Glenn Coin Staff writer A federal judge on Monday scolded an attorney who sued the Oneida Indian Nation on behalf of a former Turning Stone employee. U.S. District Court Judge Frederick Scullin tossed out the suit, saying the Oneida Nation is immune from lawsuits. In his eight-page decision, Scullin harshly criticized the plaintiff's attorney, David Vickers, of Fayetteville. Scullin threatened to impose sanctions on Vickers if he files any similar suits. "The court will not tolerate such conduct in the future," Scullin wrote in a concluding footnote.
Vickers had filed the suit in February 2008 on behalf of Marcus Smith. Smith claimed he had been fired from the bingo hall, where he had worked since 1990, because he was not Native American. Scullin wrote that "it is disingenuous at best and fraudulent at worst" for the plaintiff to claim he did not work directly for the nation. Smith's suit said he actually worked for two subsidiary companies. Scullin noted that one of those companies was not created until June 2007, six months after Smith was fired. "Plaintiff has attempted to circumvent the well-established doctrine of tribal sovereign immunity" by claiming he worked for Oneida Employment Services and Oneida Nation Enterprises LLC, Scullin said. Even if Smith did work for them, Scullin said, they were "cloaked with the nation's tribal sovereign immunity." Vickers said the suit raised important questions of law. "I think it's a fair question to ask whether or not a wholly owned entity deserves the kind of immunity that Congress obviously intended for tribes," Vickers said. "I think that line of reasoning definitely deserves to be raised." Nation spokesman Mark Emery offered a short statement: "Although we don't comment on personnel-related issues, the court decision says it all." http://www.syracuse.com/madison/index.ssf?/base/news-13/1238489790151770.xml |
