News Release
California Valley Miwok Tribe
A problem that started more than a decade ago in 2007 recently resurfaced on TurtleTalk Blog, April 18, 2022, as a California attorney, Manuel Corrales, Jr., sued the California Valley Miwok Tribe, a federally recognized tribe, and the California Gambling Control Commission (“CGCC”) for the second time in three years. The tribe’s former attorney’s latest effort is a repeat of the case he lost against the same parties in December 2021.
The tribe’s efforts to normalize its status in government-to-government relations with the United States have been long, arduous, and often stymied by efforts to undermine tribal sovereignty and self-determination. The tribe would like to clarify the circumstances of this matter and Mr. Corrales erroneous understanding of federal Indian relations.
Judge Frazier, in California Superior Court in San Diego, determined that the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the dispute until the United States determined which government of the tribe it would conduct government-to-government relations. Adding insult to injury, unfortunately for the Miwok, this is the latest in a long saga of failed litigation by Mr. Corrales in an effort to release gaming trust fund monies — each time resulting in the same ruling from California’s courts: no subject matter jurisdiction until the United States normalizes relations with the tribe.
A leadership dispute dating back to approximately 2005 has resulted in a lot of litigation and the suspension of payments to the tribe available from California’s revenue sharing trust fund administered by the California Gambling Control Commission (CGCC).
The tribe hired Mr. Corrales, Jr., as part of its legal strategy in 2007 to seek the release of the gaming trust funds. In three successive failed attempts, Mr. Corrales sued the California Gambling Control Commission on behalf of the tribe in state and federal court. On his third failure, California’s court of appeals sanctioned him. At each stage Mr. Corrales’ argument drove up against the fundamental principle of Indian affairs that only the United States can determine which tribal governments it will conduct relations with.
In 2019, Mr. Corrales sued again, this time in his personal capacity in an effort to seek payment for decades-worth of legal services by asking the superior court to order the Gambling Control Commission to pay him directly and immediately out of the trust fund held for the tribe. The tribe and others claiming to have supposed membership interest in the tribe intervened in the case.
On December 27, 2021, the San Diego Superior Court dismissed Mr. Corrales 2019 lawsuit for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. In that case, Mr. Corrales asked the Court to intervene in the Miwok’s sovereign political processes — to declare the leadership of the Miwok, to declare the individuals who are members of the Miwok — and to order the California Gambling Control Commission to pay him nearly $10 million for his repeated failure to adequately represent the Miwok’s interests as their attorney. It took the Miwok more than a year to educate the Superior Court on tribal sovereignty, but ultimately it determined that it had no jurisdiction to issue such orders.
Mr. Corrales remains unsatisfied and refuses to accept the legal underpinning that, until the United States determines who it will conduct relations with, the courts of California and California Gambling Control Commission simply cannot hear and decide matters related to the revenue sharing trust funds held by the Commissions on behalf of the tribe.
On April 15, 2022 he again filed a lawsuit seeking the court to pay Mr. Corrales out of the revenue sharing trust funds. In his new complaint, despite exhaustive briefing and direction from the court in prior proceedings, Mr. Corrales still claims that he (or the court, we are not sure) has the right to determine who the proper members of the Miwok are based on his interpretation of genealogy reports and without any reference to tribal law that establishes membership eligibility or decisions of the tribal government that makes enrollment decisions. Even in his complaint Mr. Corrales seeks a stay of the proceedings.
For more information, contact California Valley Miwok Tribe’s counsel Peter Lepsch, Peebles Kidder Bergin & Robinson LLP, at (202) 664-6204.
About the California Valley Miwok Tribe
The California Valley Miwok Tribe is a federally recognized tribe. The tribe, formally known prior to 2001 as the Sheep Ranch Rancheria, is listed on all lists eligible to conduct relations with the United States from 1947 forward including the February 1, 2019 List. The tribe and its current leadership have conducted relations at various times with the United States since adopting governing documents in 1998 with the assistance of Department of the Interior officials. The tribe is landless and desperate to access congressionally mandated government programs to support its members. The tribe and its leadership have no casino development plan and no plans to develop a casino.
