Chapter 6 - § 6.10 • ARBITRATION OF INDIAN CLAIMS

• Jurisdiction: Colorado

§ 6.10 • ARBITRATION OF INDIAN CLAIMS

Generally, Indian tribes may enter into contracts containing arbitration clauses, and it will not be interpreted to be a waiver of sovereign immunity.¹²⁸ However, in C & L Enterprises, Inc. v. Citizen Band Potawatomi Indian Tribe of Oklahoma,¹²⁹ an Indian tribe entered into a construction contract providing that all disputes would be decided by arbitration in accordance with AAA rules. The provision further provided that any federal or state court having jurisdiction could enter judgment on the arbitration award. The contract provided it was to "be governed by the law of the place where the Project is located." The project, being in Oklahoma, was governed by the Oklahoma Uniform Arbitration Act, which provided that the making of an arbitration agreement conferred jurisdiction on the courts of Oklahoma with respect thereto. The U.S. Supreme Court held that these terms constituted a waiver of the tribe's sovereign immunity with respect to enforcement of an arbitration award.

• Annot., Construction and Application of Fed. Tribal Exhaustion Doctrine, 186 A.L.R. Fed. 71.

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Notes:

^[128] See Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians v. Superior Court of Lake County, 35 Cal. Rptr.3d 357 (Cal. App. 2005).

^[129] C & L Enters., Inc. v. Citizen Band Potawatomi Indian Tribe of Okla., 532 U.S. 411 (2001). See also Breakthrough...