California | Litigation

California tribes support Pechanga Band in gaming immunity suit

Friday, June 19, 2015

A view of the Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula, California. Photo from Flickr

California tribes are supporting the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians in a gaming immunity dispute that is generating interest statewide.

In a May 28, decision, the 4th District Court of Appeal held that members of the tribe's gaming commission can be sued for revoking the license of an employee at the Pechanga Resort & Casino. The regulators were acting beyond the scope of their official duties so they aren't protected by sovereign immunity, the decision stated.

The tribe filed a petition for rehearing, arguing that the court got it wrong by basing the decision on Public Law 280, which granted criminal and civil jurisdiction in Indian Country to the state. The brief says the law's applicability was never raised in the case.

"The opinion’s legal errors flow from that flaw, and they are compounded by the panel’s apparent unfamiliarity with the law governing inherent tribal sovereignty generally and gaming regulation in particular," the petition states.

Eight tribes are supporting the request for a rehearing. They submitted a joint friend of the court brief, arguing that the original opinion sets a bad precedent for sovereign immunity.

"The ruling is contrary to well-established law that tribal sovereign immunity extends to those officials in their acts of governance, i.e., when acting in their official capacity and within the scope of their authority," the brief reads.

The former employee, Benedict Cosentino, was providing information about alleged illegal activity at the casino to the California Department of Justice when his license was revoked in 2011. He was working as a table games dealer at the time.

Although the tribe later apologized to Cosentino and rescinded the decision to revoke his license. However, he was not granted a new license.

Turtle Talk has posted documents from the request for rehearing in Consentino v. Fuller.

4th District Court of Appeal Decision:
Cosentino v. Fuller (May 28, 2015)