Tribal Courts And Judgment Collection

What if your judgment debtor is a Native American Indian gambling or other business; or against an Indian Native American who works or lives on native land? In this situation, the chances for your judgment recovery is not good.

In many ways, Native American Indian lands are another country. Native American Indians have "Sovereign Immunity" protection. Sadly, there is not a reliable, easy, or cheap method of domesticating a regular regular judgment into a tribal court. The odds aren't great, however there is a possibility you can recover a tribal-related judgment.

Many tribal reservations are closed to process servers, who are not allowed to go into tribal land to serve legal documents. The post office does not deliver mail to all tribal street numbers, so some "addresses" are not always "real" addresses, and can be sometimes difficult to locate.

Things usually depend on the laws in different tribes, and a shared relationship (known as "comity") among the Native American Indian native tribe, which is legally a separate nation, and the outside world (i.e., a state).

Some tribes recognize the laws of a state in certain situations, in exchange for reciprocal treatment under the laws of a state. Tribes usually protect their own members from judgment enforcements.

Something to try first, is to contact the person in charge of the particular involved tribe by telephone, and ask what the policy is for judgment recovery. Most will not want to cooperate, however some will. The most popular rule is that foreign nation judgment enforcement employment levies are ok if the employee being levied isn't a member of their particular tribe.

One way to enforce judgments on a Native American Indian entity or person, is to garnish their property when it isn't on tribal lands. The method of doing this is within civil state laws.

For example, if an Indian Native American judgment debtor owns a Porsche, the civil Sheriff will never enter a tribal reservation to garnish it. However, if you are well prepared, you may be able to pay a civil Sheriff to garnish the debtor's car, if the debtor drives it to (e.g.) a store, or to an auto mechanic, when it is off of tribal lands.

If you could manage to levy their vehicle when it is not on tribal lands, the judgment debtor will have to visit state court to defend against the levy, and will get no special privileges because of them being a member of a tribal reservation.

If one has a judgment on a Native American Indian gambling or other or business, maybe you could get some results with their off tribal land supply chains. Using the civil procedures of the state, you might levy or have third-party examinations on tribal property possessed by a non-tribal business, under jurisdiction of the state court.

You need to respect every Indian Native American entity you communicate with, or one might find themselves banned from tribal lands by tribal councils. That would likely be game over, for any chance of enforcing a judgment.

Quite a few Indian Native American tribe members work at gaming-related employers. Those who are employed on reservations can sometimes have their paycheck levied. Whether you could, depends on which reservation, what day of the week it is, and who you talk to. If a non-Indian Native American is employed at an Indian Native American gambling or other business, their paycheck might be garnished by the civil state Sheriff.

In the past, Congress enacted laws requiring state courts to honor tribal child custody orders as part of the Indian Child Welfare Act, see 25 USC section1911.

Later Congress passed federal laws requiring state and tribal courts to enforce and honor each other's child support orders, see 28 USC section1738B, and domestic violence protection orders, see 18 USC section2265.

When a civil dispute involves a Native American Indian located on a reservation, for example, a business owed money by a Native American Indian person or entity, the US Supreme Court has long since acknowledged that such a case can only be lodged in tribal courts, and not a state court. See Williams v. Lee, 358 US 217 (1959).

Sometimes off-reservation companies require tribal councils to sign waivers of immunity before they will do business with them. Many tribes refuse to sign such waivers, but if they sign them, it's often easier to recover a judgment against them.

When the state-court judgment was won by a business with whom a tribe had executed that kind of a waiver, one may be able to get help from a local tribal court system to recover a judgment.

Recovering judgments against a Native American Indian people or businesses isn't easy. You need to familiarize yourself with the laws in the tribes where you have judgments, or get someone who does.

When a tribe member claims they're judgment proof because of their tribe sovereignty, showing the ruling below to a tribal council management might help:

UNITED STATES v. WEDDELL, 187 F.3d 645 (eighth Circuit 1999) where the Court confirmed the district court's ruling the Federal Debt Collection Procedures Act (FDCPA), which defines "person" who may be sued as a garnishee to include "an Indian Tribe" 28 USC Section 3002(10). Clearly and unequivocally expressed waiver of Indian Tribe's sovereign immunity, and thus subjected tribe, as garnishee, to garnishment suit against one of its members. Reasons given are that Congress has the plenary power to statutorily waive a tribe's sovereign immunity, and that Congress did so under the FDCPA.

When you have judgments involving a tribal court, I recommend this book: http://www.upress.umn.edu/Books/A/austin_navajo.html. More information on the book is at: http://uanews.org/node/30111

http://www.JudgmentBuy.com - Judgment Enforcement - the easiest, best, and fastest way to get money for your judgment. Mark Shapiro, the judgment expert. We pay for leads, and offer the best no obligation free leads for enforcers, collection agencies, and contingency collection lawyers.

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