Woman sues over fight at Sycuan casino bathroom

Monday, February 15, 2010  

A 75-year-old woman is trying to get the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation to pay $160,000 for an accident at the tribe's casino.

When she was 70, Sarah Harris said she tried to stop an altercation between her friend and a bathroom attendant at the Sycuan Casino. She blamed the worker for causing her to undergo more surgery.

An arbitrator agreed and told the tribe to pay Harris $160,000. But the she sought to enforce the award in federal court -- as the tribe's ordinance dictates -- a judge said he lacked jurisdiction and threw out the case.

“Why prepare an ordinance that says you can go to the federal court and when you get to the federal court, they say there’s no jurisdiction?” attorney John Crawford told The San Diego Union-Tribune. “They’re shooting out of both sides of their mouth.”

TurtleTalk posted documents from the case.

Get the Story:
Woman injured at casino stuck in legal quagmire (The San Diego Union-Tribune 2/14)