Pan American Company v. Sycuan Band of Mission Indians

Plaintiff-Appellant Pan American Company (Pan Am) filed suit in district court challenging the validity of an amended bingo ordinance enacted by the Sycuan Band of Mission Indians (Band) which imposed licensure and work permit requirements on Pan Am’s ongoing bingo operations. We affirm the district court’s dismissal of Pan Am’s complaint for jurisdictional defects based on failure to prove that the Band had waived tribal sovereign immunity.

I.

The Sycuan Band of Mission Indians, a federally recognized Indian tribe, occupies a reservation in San Diego County. In November 1985, the Band and Pan Am entered into a federally-approved Management Agreement (“Bingo Agreement”) authorizing Pan Am to operate bingo games on the reservation. Under the terms of this Bingo Agreement, Pan Am agreed to construct and finance a Bingo facility on the Band’s land, and then manage, operate, and maintain the Band’s Tribal Bingo Enterprise (“Bingo Enterprise”) exclusively for fifteen years. As compensation for its operation of the Bingo Enterprise, Pan Am received a percentage of the net operating profits from the bingo games. The Bingo Agreement also contained an arbitration clause for resolving…