Plains Commerce Bank v. Long Family Land & Cattle Co.

The Long Family Land and Cattle Company, Inc. (the company) (plaintiff) was a family-owned ranch with land on the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation (the reservation). Ronnie and Lila Long (the Longs) (plaintiffs) were members of the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Tribe (the tribe) and were the majority shareholders of the company. The Plains Commerce Bank (the bank), located outside the reservation, gave the company a loan in exchange for a mortgage on fee land within the reservation owned by a non-Indian member of the extended Long family. The Longs subsequently renegotiated the original loan, and the bank gained ownership of the land and gave the Longs a two-year lease with the option to buy. The Longs were unable to exercise their option, and the lease expired. Thereafter, the bank sold the land to non-Indians. In 1999, the Longs and the company filed suit in tribal court, alleging, in part, that the bank had discriminated against them by selling the land to non-Indians on more favorable terms than had been offered to the Longs. The tribal court found that it had jurisdiction, and a jury found in the Longs’ favor and awarded damages. The tribal appeals court affirmed. The bank sought declaratory relief in a federal district court, arguing that the tribal court lacked jurisdiction over the Longs’ discrimination claim. The district court granted summary judgment in the Longs’ favor and held that the tribal court’s exercise of jurisdiction was proper because, pursuant to Supreme Court precedent, the bank’s consensual relationship with the Longs placed it within the tribe’s civil jurisdiction over nonmembers. The Eighth Circuit affirmed, holding that the bank had consented to the tribe’s jurisdiction by choosing to deal with the Longs. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari.