The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior
Chippewa Indians has won another round in a long-running gaming dispute with the city of Duluth, Minnesota.
The tribe doesn't need the city's approval to file a land-into-trust application for a site adjacent to the Fond-du-Luth Casino,
Judge Susan Richard Nelson said in a 20-page decision on Monday. She dismissed the city's lawsuit, a move that drew praise from the tribe.
“The band is pleased with the latest ruling,” Chairwoman Karen Diver said in a statement, according to news reports.. “The courts continue to rule that the various agreements related to the Fond-du-Luth Casino are illegal under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. The city has another opportunity to focus its attention on repairing its relationship with the band, rather than on misguided litigation and harmful public rhetoric.”
The land-into-trust application covers the one-acre site of the historic Carter Hotel. The tribe wants to raze the property in order to create a "buffer" zone around the casino.
"The land uses surrounding the Reservation have a detrimental effect on the Band’s on-Reservation activities by reducing the level of enjoyment and sense of security for its guests and employees," the land-into-trust application submitted to the Bureau of Indian Affairs states. "Acquisition of the Subject Property would allow the Band to provide the necessary attention and commitment that has been lacking in the past in order to rehabilitate one of the parcels adjoining the Reservation."
The tribe was sharing 19 percent of gross revenues from the casino with the city.
But after paying $75 million, the tribe halted the payments and the National Indian Gaming Commission later determined that the revenue-sharing agreement was illegal under the Indian
Gaming Regulatory Act.
Get the Story:
Federal case dismissed: Duluth vs. Tribe
(Northland's News Center 12/23)
Judge tosses city's suit to block Fond-du-Luth expansion
(The Duluth News Tribune 12/24)
Related Stories:
8th Circuit hears
arguments in Fond du Lac Band casino suit (11/13)