Bucher v. Dakota Finance Corp. (In re Whitaker)
- Citation:
- Bucher v. Dakota Finance Corporation (In re Whitaker), Case No. 12-6004, --- F.3d --- (B.A.P. 8th Cir. July 19, 2012) (slip opinion) (Federman, J.)
- Tag(s):
-
- Ruling:
- AFFIRMING the bankruptcy court’s orders dismissing trustees’ adversary proceedings against a tribe and its subsidiary, the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Eighth Circuit held that both the tribe and its subsidiary were immune from suit. First, in enacting § 106(a) of the Bankruptcy Code, Congress did not “clearly and unequivocally” abrogate the sovereign immunity of Indian tribes, which are not mentioned in the statute and do not fall within the meaning of “foreign or domestic government” under § 101(27). Second, satisfaction of the multi-factor, “subordinate economic entity” test extended the tribe’s immunity to its subsidiary.
- Procedural context:
- Appeal from the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Minnesota, which had dismissed the trustees’ adversary proceedings as to the tribe and its subsidiary.
- Facts:
- In three Chapter 7 cases, the debtors are members of the federally-recognized Lower Sioux Indian Community (the “tribe”) and receive revenue payments from the tribe. The Chapter 7 trustees filed four adversary proceedings against the debtors, the tribe, and the tribe’s subsidiary, Dakota Finance Corporation (the “subsidiary”). In three of the adversaries, the trustees pursued the tribe and the debtors for turnover of the tribal revenue payments owed to the debtors by the tribe. In one of the proceedings, a trustee sought to avoid a lien asserted by the subsidiary on the owed tribal revenue payments. The bankruptcy court held that the tribe and the subsidiary are protected by sovereign immunity and dismissed the adversaries as to those parties. The trustees appealed. The BAP affirmed.
- Judge(s):
- Federman, Venters, Saladino, Bankruptcy Judges.
ABI Membership is required to access the full summary. Please Sign In using your ABI Member credentials. Not a Member yet? Join ABI now - it is absolutely worth it!
