Federal Court Allows Amended Suit against Seneca Holdings in Post-Hurricane Sandy Construction Dispute

Here are the materials in Private Solutions Inc v. SCMC LLC (D. N.J.):

53-1 Plaintiff Motion to Amend complaint

55 Opposition

58 Reply

63 DCT Order

An excerpt:

As Breakthrough makes clear, determining whether an economic entity such as Seneca Holdings benefits from tribal sovereign immunity requires a fact-intensive inquiry. The Court recognizes that Seneca Holdings has produced its Second Amended Charter, which discusses the economic entity’s formation, purpose, structure, and relationship to the Seneca Nation. [Docket Entry No. 55-1]. The Charter makes clear that Seneca Holdings was organized under tribal law and was created for the purpose of facilitating the Tribe’s economic interests. The Charter is highly probative of several of the Breakthrough factors; however, it is not enough to definitively establish that Seneca Holdings shares tribal sovereign immunity with the Seneca Nation of Indians. As such, more discovery is required to appropriately consider the issue. Consequently, at this juncture, Seneca Holdings purported tribal sovereign immunity does not render PSI’s proposed amendments futile.