White Mountain Apache Tribe v. Smith Plumbing Company, Inc., Doing Business as White Mountain Supply Company, an Arizona Corporation
Opinion
Opinion
Goodwin, J.
Smith Plumbing Company, Inc. appeals a preliminary injunction against proceeding with a state court trial against an insurer who wrote a performance bond for White Mountain Apache Tribe’s tribal development enterprise.
White Mountain Apache Tribe is a federally recognized Indian tribe organized pursuant to § 16 of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, 25 U.S.C. § 476 et seq. (1982), and occupies a reservation in east central Arizona known as the Fort Apache Indian Reservation.
The White Mountain Apache Housing Authority was created by the Tribe in 1963 pursuant to a requirement of the Indian Housing Division of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), in order to receive financial assistance from HUD to build low-income housing on the reservation. The Housing Authority has the power to contract with and to borrow money from HUD for the purpose of constructing housing for tribal members on the reservation.
The White Mountain Apache Development Enterprise (Enterprise), a subsidiary of the tribal government, was created in 1968 for the purpose of undertaking construction projects on the reservation as a general contractor.