Real Property-Land Use-Water Pump Permit-Tribal Subject Matter Jurisdiction

Plaintiff appealed the denial of his motion for a preliminary injunction. Plaintiff, who was not Native American, owned fee land within the White Earth Nation reservation. The Nation had passed an ordinance requiring permits from the White Earth Division of Natural Resources to install water pumps within the reservation. Plaintiff did not obtain a permit from the Nation but obtained one from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. The Nation sued plaintiff in tribal court to block him from installing a pump on his land. Plaintiff argued that the tribal court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to enforce ordinances against non-members on their fee land. Plaintiff filed suit in district court to advance his argument.

Where there was no exemption to the exhaustion rule for parties challenging tribal jurisdiction, the district court correctly denied plaintiff’s motion for injunctive relief where the Nation’s assertion of authority was not frivolous or obviously invalid under clearly established law.

Judgment is affirmed.

Vipond v. DeGroat (MLW No. 84321/Case No. 25-1680 – 12 pages) (U.S. Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit, Gruender, J.) Appealed from U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota, Menendez, J. (Courtney E. Carter, Hopkins, MN for appellant; Randy Vern Thompson, Hopkins, MN on the brief) (Riyaz A. Kanji, Ann Arbor, MI for appellees; Joshua C. Handelsman, Ann Arbor, MI; Cory Jay Albright, Seattle, WA; Jane Garrett Steadman, Seattle, WA; and Sara K. Van Norman, Minneapolis, MN on the brief)