Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Indians Corporations – citizenship – diversity jurisdiction

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//September 6, 2011//

Indians Corporations – citizenship – diversity jurisdiction

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//September 6, 2011//

Listen to this article

Indians
Corporations; citizenship; diversity jurisdiction

A corporation chartered under Native American tribal law is a citizen of a state for purposes of determining diversity jurisdiction.

“We have hewn to the mechanical application of a clear rule ‘treat[ing] any corporation as a corporation for diversity purposes’ and have noted that the diversity statute itself does not distinguish between types of corporations or limit its reach to businesses incorporated under state law. Hoagland v. Sandberg, Phoenix & Von Gontard, P.C., 385 F.3d 737, 739, 741 (7th Cir. 2004); see also Empress Casino Joliet Corp. v. Balmoral Racing Club, Inc., No. 09-3975, 2011 WL 2652201, at *3 (7th Cir. July 8, 2011) (en banc) (reaffirming a preference for “administrative simplicity” in jurisdictional rules (quotation marks omitted)). Indeed, municipal corporations chartered by states are ‘treated just like . . . regular business corporation[s]’ under § 1332. City of Clinton v. Moffitt, 812 F.2d 341, 342 (7th Cir. 1987) (citing Moor v. Cnty. of Alameda, 411 U.S. 693, 717-18 (1973), and Illinois v. City of Milwaukee, 406 U.S. 91, 97 (1972)). Moreover, we do not discern any significant reason that corporations organized under tribal law and participating in economic transactions with individuals and businesses from a variety of states merit different jurisdictional treatment than their counterparts organized under state law. Thus, we join our colleagues in the Ninth and Tenth Circuits and hold that a corporation chartered under Native American tribal law should be treated as a citizen of a state pursuant to § 1332(c). Cf. Hoagland, 385 F.3d at 740 (citing with approval cases treating tribal corporations as state citizens for diversity purposes).”

Affirmed in part, and Reversed in part.

10-2069 Wells Fargo Bank, NA, v. Lake of the Torches Economic Development Corp.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, Randa, J., Ripple, J.

TAGS: 7th Circuit Digest, Civil Digest

Full Text

Polls

Should Steven Avery be granted a new evidentiary hearing?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Legal News

See All Legal News

WLJ People

Sea all WLJ People

Opinion Digests