Federal Court Block on Tribal Court Jurisdiction Ruled Premature

It was premature for a federal court to decide that a tribal court didn’t have jurisdiction over a land dispute between WPX Energy Williston LLC and a Native American family, the Eighth Circuit ruled Monday.

Members of the Fettig family sued WPX Energy in the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara nation’s Three Affiliated Tribes District Court in 2020 for allegedly breaching a smoking ban after the parties agreed to it as a condition for granting WPX Energy rights-of-way on Fettig-owned land.

After the tribal court denied the company’s motion to dismiss, WPX Energy sued in federal court alleging the tribal venues ...