Background
Plaintiff Lynda Kozlowicz-Gardner filed suit alleging she did not receive her fair portion of federal COVID-19 relief funds due to misuse by the Ute Tribe. She sought to enjoin the Tribal Council Members from governing the Tribe. The district court dismissed the action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, citing sovereign immunity and the absence of federal question or diversity jurisdiction.
The court’s reasoning
The court affirmed that sovereign immunity bars the suit because the plaintiff failed to demonstrate that the tribe waived immunity or that Congress abrogated it. The court also found that the plaintiff did not establish federal question jurisdiction as the referenced statutes do not provide a private cause of action, nor did she establish diversity jurisdiction because tribes are not state citizens and she failed to identify an amount in controversy or party citizenship.
What it means going forward
The decision reinforces that tribal officials are generally immune from suit in their official capacity and that pro se litigants must affirmatively establish jurisdiction without court assistance.