A case between two tribes over the alleged misuse of federal transportation funds has been dismissed in Alaska’s Superior Court.
The Juneau Empire reports the Douglas Indian Association’s case against the much larger Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska was dismissed Jan. 13 based on a tribe’s sovereign immunity from state interference.
The DIA had filed a lawsuit in April 2015 against leaders of the Central Council over what they claim was an unfair withholding of nearly $1 million in Tribal Transportation program shares.
Central Council President Richard Peterson says sovereign immunity was used because of continued legal fees that would put tribe funds at risk.
DIA Tribal Administrator Andrea Cadiente-Laiti says the use of sovereign immunity wasn’t in line with its original purpose.
