Second Circuit – Indian Gaming Regulatory Act: Cayuga Nation, et al. v. Howard Tanner, et al.

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United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

Indian Gaming Regulatory Act

Preemption – Village regulation – Indian lands

Cayuga Nation, et al. v. Howard Tanner, et al.

20-1310-cv

Judges Kearse, Lynch, and Chin

Background: The plaintiffs commenced an action against a village and certain of its officials seeking a declaratory judgment that the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act preempts the village’s ordinance regulating gambling as applied to the Nation’s operation of a bingo parlor on a parcel of land located within both the village and the Nation’s federal reservation. The defendants appealed from the grant of summary judgment to the plaintiffs.

Ruling: The Second Circuit affirmed. The court held that neither issue nor claim preclusion bars the suit and the IGRA preempts contrary the village law because the parcel of land at issue sits on Indian lands within the meaning of the act.

David W. DeBruin, of Jenner & Block, for the plaintiffs-counter-defendants-appellees; David H. Tenant for the defendants-counter-plaintiffs-appellants.