SEMINOLE TRIBE OF FLORIDA, A FEDERALLY RECOGNIZED INDIAN TRIBE, D/B/A SEMINOLE GAMING AND SEMINOLE INDIAN CASINO-IMMOKALEE, PETITIONER,
v.
PEDRO A. ARIZ, AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ESTATE OF ROSELINDO VELASQUEZ AND ON BEHALF OF VICTORIA VELASQUEZ, AS WIFE OF DECEDENT ROSELINDO VELASQUEZ, RESPONDENT

Fla. 2d DCA | 2010-09-01
No. 2D10-1335
ALTENBERND and WALLACE, JJ., Concur.
67 So. 3d 229 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (2010) Positive Treatment
Cited by 7 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.


Holding

The court held that the Tribe is entitled to tribal sovereign immunity, and the trial court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over the wrongful death action.


Headnotes

[1] Indian tribes are independent sovereign governments not subject to the civil jurisdiction of state courts.

[2] Tribal sovereign immunity can only be waived by clear and unequivocal consent of the Tribe, established through a resolution duly enacted by the Tribal Council, or by exp…

Previewing 2 of 5 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

An employee of the Seminole Tribe of Florida struck and killed a decedent with his car. The decedent's wife filed a wrongful death action against the …

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
MORRIS, Judge.

MORRIS, Judge.

The Seminole Tribe of Florida (Tribe) seeks (1) a writ of certiorari to review a nonfinal order of the trial court continuing the hearing on the Tribe’s motion to dismiss a wrongful death action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and allowing Victoria Velasquez, as the “presumptive personal representative” of the estate of Roselindo Velasquez,1 to conduct discovery on jurisdictional issues and (2) a writ of prohibition barring further proceedings by Velasquez and the trial court. We deny the petition for writ of certiorari but grant the petition for writ of prohibition barring further proceedings, finding that the trial court lacks subject matter jurisdiction.2

*231 Background

In April 2006, an employee of the Seminole Gaming and Seminole Indian Casino-Immokalee struck and killed Roselindo Velasquez with his car as the decedent attempted to walk across CR 846 in Immok-alee, Florida. On April 28, 2008, Victoria Velasquez, as the “presumptive personal representative” and wife of the decedent, filed a civil action seeking damages for the wrongful death of her husband, naming the Tribe as a defendant. Velasquez claims the Tribe is vicariously liable for her husband’s death.3 The complaint was subsequently amended in February 2009, and in March 2009 the Tribe filed a motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction based upon the doctrine of tribal sovereign immunity.

The Tribe argues that it has tribal immunity under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, 25 U.S.C. §§ 461-479; that it has not waived its immunity in this matter; and that Congress has not abrogated the Tribe’s immunity. In support of the motion, the Tribe filed the affidavits of the tribal secretary and of a longstanding member of the tribal council, along with copies of the Tribe’s charter and Tribal Ordinance C-01-95 (Tribal Ordinance). In response, Velasquez claims that when the Tribe entered into the Seminole Tribe of Florida and State of Florida Gaming Corn-pact (Compact) on November 14, 2007, it waived its immunity.4

On February 24, 2010, almost a full year after the motion to dismiss was filed, the trial court heard argument on the motion and entered an order permitting Velasquez to conduct discovery limited to the issue of subject matter jurisdiction. The court delayed making a determination on the Tribe’s motion to dismiss.

Analysis

Florida law is clear that the Indian tribes are independent sovereign governments not subject to the civil jurisdiction of the courts of this state. See Houghtaling v. Seminole Tribe of Fla., 611 So.2d 1235 (Fla.1993) (discussing in detail federal and state legislative history and case law of sovereign immunity of Indian tribes). It is also well-established law in Florida that the Tribe is immune from suit brought by any third party in state or federal court without the clear and unequivocal consent of the Tribe or the clear and unequivocal consent of Congress. See Seminole Tribe of Fla. v. McCor, 903 So.2d 353, 356 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005). Pursuant to the terms of the Tribal Ordinance, clear and unequivocal consent of the Tribe may only be established through a resolution duly enacted by the Tribal Council of the Seminole Tribe of Florida sitting in legal *232session. Any resolution purporting to waive sovereign immunity must include the purpose for the waiver and the extent to which the waiver applies. The consent of Congress must be express and may not arise from implication. Id. at 358 (citing Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez, 436 U.S. 49, 58, 98 S.Ct. 1670, 56 L.Ed.2d 106 (1978)).

Velasquez relies upon one section of the Compact, part VI, section D, paragraph five, to establish a limited waiver of immunity she argues is applicable. Part VI of the Compact is titled “Patron Dispute, Tort Claims; Prize Claims; Limited Consent to Suit,” and section D is titled “Tort remedies for Patrons.” Section D, including paragraph five, applies to patrons who claim “to have been injured in the area of the Facility where Covered Games are played.” Patrons are defined as those people who are on the premises of a facility or who have entered the Tribe’s lands for the purpose of playing authorized covered games. Compact, part III, § 0. A facility is a building of the Tribe in which the covered games authorized by the Compact are conducted. Compact, part III, §§ I, E. It is apparent that the limited waiver of sovereign immunity in part VI, section D, is not applicable to the facts of Velasquez’s claim because the decedent was not a patron injured in a Tribe facility. Therefore, the Compact does not reflect the requisite clear and unequivocal consent of the Tribe to be subject to liability under the facts of this case.

Velasquez has failed to show an express and unequivocal waiver of sovereign immunity that is applicable to her case. See Miccosukee Tribe of Indians v. Napoleoni, 890 So.2d 1152, 1153 (Fla. 1st DCA 2004); see also Cupo v. Seminole Tribe of Fla., 860 So.2d 1078, 1079 (Fla. 1st DCA 2003) (concluding that the judge of compensation claims lacked subject matter jurisdiction because the claimant failed to show a clear, express, and unmistakable waiver of sovereign immunity). Further, the unchallenged affidavits and accompanying Tribe charter and Tribal Ordinance make it clear that the Tribe has not waived its sovereign immunity. See McCor, 903 So.2d at 359.

The Tribe has established that it is entitled to tribal sovereign immunity and that the trial court is without subject matter jurisdiction in this matter. Therefore, we grant the Tribe’s petition for writ of prohibition barring further proceedings but deny the petition for writ of certiorari.

ALTENBERND and WALLACE, JJ., Concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Andreas Keck v. Ashleigh K. Eminisor, 104 So. 3d 359 (Fla. 2012)
    …oncluding that a writ of certiorari was improper to review the denial of a motion to dismiss involving [*370] sovereign immunity), approved by Citizens Prop. Ins. Corp. v. San Perdido Ass’n, 104 So. 3d 344 (Fla.2012); Seminole Tribe of Fla. v. Ariz, 67 So. 3d 229, 232 (Fla. 2d DCA 2010) (granting a petition for writ of prohibition because the petitioner established it was entitled to tribal sovereign immunity and thus the trial court was without subject matter jurisdiction over the matter). Because the sec…
  • MMMG, LLC v. Seminole Tribe OF Fla., Inc., 196 So. 3d 438 (Fla. 4th DCA 2016)
    …t Florida and federal case law supports the requirement that a proper and enforceable waiver of sovereign immunity comply with the sovereign entity’s rules for waiving immunity. See Houghtaling, 611 So. 2d at 1239-40; Seminole Tribe of Fla. v. Ariz, 67 So. 3d 229 (Fla. 2d DCA 2010); Memphis-Biofuels, 585 F. 3d at 921. We follow the Sixth Circuit’s approach in Memphis Biofuels, which looked to the entity’s charter to determine whether there had been a waiver of sovereign immunity. Memphis Biofuels, 585 F. 3d…
  • Howard v. MMMG, LLC (Fla. 4th DCA 2020)
    …y which [the Tribe] is capable of bestowing upon the agent as a matter of federal, constitutional or tribal law . . . . (Emphasis added). 2 The validity of the Ordinance has been recognized by multiple courts. See Seminole Tribe of Fla. v. Ariz, 67 So. 3d 229, 231-32 (Fla. 2d DCA 2010); Sanderlin v. Seminole Tribe of Fla., 243 F. 3d 1282, 1287 (11th Cir. 2001). Michael Wax, aka Mobile Mike, a South Florida radio personality, owns Mobile Mike Promotions, Inc. In 2011, Wax’s company and STOFI entered in…

Previewing 3 of 5 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw