## Facts

- The Sky Dancer Casino (the casino) was owned and operated by the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians (the tribe) in North Dakota.
- In connection with the casino’s gaming operations, the tribe entered into a gaming compact with the State of North Dakota.
- The compact stated that the tribe waived sovereign immunity for personal-injury lawsuits arising out of gaming activities, but only up to the limits of the tribe’s liability insurance coverage.
- In November 2003, Lonnie Charbonneau, a tribal member, was killed in an automobile accident on the casino’s property.
- Charbonneau was a passenger in a vehicle driven by his brother, who was intoxicated at the time of the accident.
- Charbonneau’s estate (the estate) filed a wrongful-death action in Turtle Mountain tribal court against the casino, alleging the casino negligently served alcohol to Charbonneau’s brother after he was already intoxicated and that the overservice proximately caused Charbonneau’s death.
- The casino moved to dismiss the suit on the ground of tribal sovereign immunity.
- The estate amended its complaint to add St. Paul Insurance Company (St. Paul), the casino’s liability insurer, as a defendant.
- The tribal court dismissed the casino and allowed St. Paul to be added as a defendant.
- St. Paul moved for summary judgment in tribal court.
- The tribal court granted summary judgment for St. Paul.
- The estate appealed to the Turtle Mountain Tribal Court of Appeals (TMAC-08-019).

## Issues

1. Whether the gaming compact’s limited waiver of the tribe’s sovereign immunity (tied to insurance limits) allowed the estate to proceed directly against the casino’s liability insurer after the casino was dismissed on immunity grounds.
2. Whether the existence of liability insurance, together with the compact language, created a right to sue the insurer in tribal court for the underlying tort claim.
3. Whether summary judgment for the insurer was proper on the estate’s theory that the insurer could be held liable even though the insured tribal enterprise could not be sued.

## Decision

- The Turtle Mountain Tribal Court of Appeals reviewed the estate’s appeal from a tribal-court order granting summary judgment to St. Paul in the estate’s wrongful-death action connected to alleged alcohol service at the casino.
- The publicly accessible sources for this tribal appellate case identify the procedural posture (summary judgment for St. Paul; appeal by the estate) but do not provide the appellate court’s full written analysis or a reliably citable statement of the final appellate disposition.

## Legal Principles

- Tribal sovereign immunity bars suits against a tribe and tribal entities unless the tribe clearly and expressly waives immunity or Congress authorizes the suit.
- A waiver stated in a tribal–state gaming compact is read narrowly and is limited to the scope and conditions the compact states, including any cap tied to available liability insurance.
- The purchase of liability insurance does not automatically create a stand-alone cause of action against the insurer; a direct action generally depends on authorization in applicable law (including tribal law) or in the insurance contract.
- On summary judgment, the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law if there is no genuine dispute of material fact under the governing tribal court standard.

## Conclusion

Charbonneau v. St. Paul Insurance Company arose from a fatal on-premises auto accident at the tribe’s casino and a wrongful-death suit alleging negligent alcohol service; after the casino asserted sovereign immunity and was dismissed, the estate attempted to continue the case against the casino’s insurer based on the gaming compact’s limited immunity waiver tied to insurance limits, but the tribal court granted summary judgment to the insurer and the estate appealed to the Turtle Mountain Tribal Court of Appeals.


Charbonneau v. St. Paul Insurance Company, TMAC-08-019 (2009)