Bankruptcy Proceeding Involving Lower Sioux Indian Community and Dakota Finance Corporation

The opinion in Bucher v. Dakota Finance Corp; Dietz v. Lower Sioux Indian Community; Bucher v. Lower Sioux Indian Community (B.A.P. 8th Cir) is here.

The issue here is whether the filing of bankruptcy by Tribe members serves to make the debtors’ ongoing revenues from the Tribe available to the respective trustees for the benefit of their creditors. The Bankruptcy Court1 held that both the Tribe and Dakota Finance Corporation are protected by sovereign immunity and dismissed the adversaries as to those parties. The trustees appeal. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.