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Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

Users of NICS' Tribal Court Appellate Opinions ("the NICS appellate reporters") must read and abide by the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, as updated from time to time by NICS and/or Code Publishing Company and posted at www.nics.ws/terms and www.nics.ws/privacy, respectively.

Potential Gaps and Supplements

NICS' appellate reporters include all opinions issued by the tribal courts of appeal administered by NICS during those times that NICS actually administered those courts. Some of the tribes with opinions published here may now or at various times in the past have administered their own court of appeals that issued opinions published elsewhere or not at all. Researchers may wish to check the Indian Law Reporter and the various for-profit legal publishers, or directly contact any of the tribes represented in NICS' appellate reporters, to determine whether a particular tribe's court of appeals has issued opinions not published here.

NICS is working to identify any gaps in the issuance of opinions by the tribal courts of appeal represented in NICS' appellate reporters. NICS hopes to publish a supplemental reporter in the near future with any such missing opinions so that users of NICS' appellate reporters have the entire appellate case law for each tribe represented in our reporters. Tribes interested in supplementing their opinions, and persons with knowledge of appellate court opinions issued by a tribal court of appeals represented in NICS' reporters but not published herein, are encouraged to contact NICS with that information by sending an email with the name of the tribe, the name(s) of the case(s) and cause number(s), date(s) of decision, and any other relevant information to: appellate@nics.ws.

Not a substitute for code research

The law can change frequently, and the precedential value of any particular court decision can be affected if the underlying statute, regulation, or policy has been modified or repealed after the court issued its decision. Statutes, regulations and policies are sometimes amended as a direct result of court decisions. NICS' Tribal Court Appellate Opinions should be utilized in addition to, not a substitute for, researching the codes, ordinances, and resolutions of the relevant tribe(s).

Print edition available

NICS has reprinted the entire series of its appellate reporters in a library-quality expandable post binder available for purchase on the NICS website. The purchase price, set as low as possible to cover the costs of production and mailing, includes ongoing supplementation with newly issued opinions as they are issued and semiannual updates to the indexes, all at no additional charge. To purchase the print edition, visit www.nics.ws.

Comments and Corrections

NICS is constantly seeking to correct any errors and improve the content and functionality of its appellate reporters. If you find any discrepancies between the text of an opinion on file with a tribal court and the text of that opinion as it has been reproduced here, or any discrepancies between NICS' print and online versions, please let us know. Suggestions for improvements for both the online and print versions, including suggestions regarding the indexes, and any other feedback, positive or negative, are strongly encouraged. Please email any comments, corrections, or suggestions to: appellate@nics.ws.

Single Tribe Searches

To research the opinions of a specific tribal court, use the Boolean search function and add the name of the Tribe as a search term (e.g., "jurisdiction w/10 nonmember" and Tulalip). Although this may produce some extra results in the form of opinions issued by other tribal courts citing the target tribe's opinions or name, it will capture all of the relevant decisions from the target tribe while excluding most opinions from other tribes.

Formatting and Other Conventions

Formatting, styles, and other conventions in NICS' appellate reporters have evolved over the years. Users of these materials should be aware of the following:

"Summary" and "Syllabus": The "summary" preceding each opinion in Volumes I through V was replaced by a "syllabus" starting in Volume VI. The rationale for this change was that some opinions include summaries written by the judges themselves, and NICS felt it was important to clearly distinguish the case-overview written by NICS staff after the opinion was filed (the "syllabus") from any summary that might have been written by the judges and filed as part of the opinion. In a handful of early opinions, the appellate panel itself provided a "summary" that preceded what the panel then designated as the "full text" of the opinion. In those cases, the summary has been included as part of the text of the opinion. NICS hopes users find the syllabus convention to be a helpful research tool.

Typos not corrected: Where certain typographic and grammatical errors in the opinions may have been corrected in Volumes I through V, starting in Volume VI, NICS made every effort to reproduce the text of each opinion exactly as it was entered in each tribal court, including retaining typographic and grammatical errors. The rationale for this change was that NICS wanted to avoid the potential for multiple and potentially conflicting versions of the same opinion to be put into circulation. Each tribe is the ultimate custodian of its own records and in the case of any discrepancy between the text of an opinion published herein and the copy on file with the respective tribe, it is the copy on file with the tribe that controls.

Case citations italicized: While striving to reproduce the text of each opinion exactly as it was entered in each respective tribal court, NICS has made one formatting change, which is to standardize all case citations using italicized text rather than the mix of italicized and underlined text for case citations in the original opinions.

Identities protected: Due to privacy concerns and the power of the internet, NICS has taken additional actions to protect the identity of certain minors and victims of sexual abuse who may have been named in the as-filed or previously-published versions of some of the opinions published herein.

Footnotes: The footnotes in Volumes 2 and 3 were produced manually before the advent of modern word processing software. For at least two opinions in Volume 2, the footnote numbering was restarted on each page, resulting in multiple footnotes numbered "1" within a single opinion. In Volume 3, footnote numbering was based on the entire volume, rather than restarting with each opinion, so all but the first opinion with a footnote start with a footnote other than the number "1" in Volume 3. NICS chose to retain the original numbering to achieve consistency with citations to the original versions of NICS' appellate reporters and the decisions as they are file with the respective tribes. To enhance the readability of the online version of NICS' appellate reporters and to facilitate cutting and pasting selected text from the website, all footnotes have been converted to endnotes in the online version. The conversion of footnotes to endnotes does not alter the pagination of the body of any opinion - the pagination of the online version still matches the pagination of the print editions.

[Sic]: All "[sic]" notations are part of the original opinion.

Appearances of counsel: Appearances of counsel and pro se parties at oral argument have been noted where evident from the opinion. The lack of a notation of appearances simply means the appellate panel did not note it in the opinion, not that oral argument was not heard or a party did not appear.

About NICS

The mission of the Northwest Intertribal Court System (NICS) is to assist its member tribes, at their direction, in a manner that recognizes the sovereignty, individual character and traditions of those tribes in the development of tribal courts that will provide fair, equitable and uniform justice for all who fall within their jurisdiction. In fulfilling this mission, NICS promotes self-sufficient tribal communities and strengthens tribal sovereignty.

NICS provides trial and appellate court judges, prosecuting attorneys, assistance with code development, training and technical assistance, and other court services to its member tribes depending on each tribe's needs. Founded in 1979 and incorporated as an IRS 501(c)(3) non-profit organization on March 11, 1980, NICS' membership has fluctuated over the years as NICS has helped some tribes establish their own independent courts while other tribes that were not among the founding members subsequently joined NICS. Each member tribe appoints by resolution a representative to the NICS Governing Board, which sets policy for and governs all administrative actions of the organization. Member tribes generally receive all of NICS' services and participate in NICS' governance through their representation on the Governing Board. NICS also provides services to non-member tribes on a fee-for-service basis. A current list of NICS' member tribes and those tribes receiving services from NICS on fee-for-service basis can be found on the NICS website: www.nics.ws.

Tribes interested in joining NICS or contracting for services, and individuals interested in learning more about NICS, can find NICS on the web at www.nics.ws or contact NICS directly at 425-774-5808.

About the Title

Users will note that Volumes I through V of NICS' appellate reporters bore the title "Northwest Regional Appellate Courts: Tribal Appellate Court Opinions." Starting with Volume VI, the title was changed to "Northwest Intertribal Court System: Tribal Court Appellate Opinions." The change in title is intended to reflect the reality that NICS does not administer "regional" appellate courts, but rather administers the unique, distinct and independent court of appeals of each sovereign tribe that utilizes NICS' services. NICS is an intertribal court system, not an intertribal court.

Acknowledgements

NICS would like to acknowledge and thank attorney and Colville Tribe member Kevin Miller for the hundreds of hours of reading, typing, scanning, formatting, digesting, indexing, creative thinking, business acumen, technological savvy and all-around good cheer that he has dedicated to the production of NICS' appellate reporters for nearly a decade on an entirely volunteer basis. His ongoing commitment to tribal justice is greatly appreciated.

The conversion of NICS' appellate reporters to a searchable, online database available to the public free of charge was made possible in large part by grants from the charitable funds of the Tulalip, Muckleshoot, and Shoalwater Bay Tribes. The production, publication and distribution of earlier print and CD versions of the NICS appellate reporters was made possible in part through contracts with the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and grants from the Squaxin Island Tribe and the Tulalip Tribes.

The conversion of NICS' appellate reporters to an online database was greatly facilitated by pro bono counsel provided by the law firm of Foster Pepper PLLC. Many thanks to our Foster Pepper attorneys Joel Ard and especially Lauren J. King. And thanks to Wayfind (formerly Washington Attorneys Assisting Community Organizations) for recruiting Joel and Lauren to assist with the project.

Last but not least, thanks to Code Publishing Company (CPC) and CPC's legal indexing expert, Neil Savage, for their work on the conversion of NICS' appellate reporters to an online database and the production of the first ever cumulative subject matter index for these reporters. In addition to publishing the NICS appellate reporters online, CPC has published and hosts the online version of the codes of several Indian tribes. CPC and Mr. Savage have both been great partners on this project and their services should be considered by anyone interested in undertaking a project of this nature.