The Legal Examiner Affiliate Network The Legal Examiner The Legal Examiner The Legal Examiner search instagram avvo phone envelope checkmark mail-reply spinner error close The Legal Examiner The Legal Examiner The Legal Examiner
Skip to main content

Indian casinos punctuate Washington’s landscape. A quick glance into the rearview mirror while driving along any interstate or highway shows a backdrop of brightly lit buildings advertising slots and tables.

As tribes built casinos in the 1990s I assumed that it didn’t make sense to pursue personal injury claims against the Indians. After all, all personal injury claims must be filed in tribal court on the reservation. It seemed like there would be a strong bias against plaintiffs, a bias not based on race, but rather the personal injury plaintiff’s desire to take some of the tribe’s money.

My initial assumption proved incorrect. Despite being major economic players, the tribes do not self-insure. Like most businesses they carry policies of insurance. Payments made to injured visitors, particularly non-tribal members injured in the casinos, come from their insurance carriers.

The fact that payment isn’t coming straight out of the tribes’ accounts goes a long way toward eliminating the bias and self-interest that caused so much initial concern. The tribes have a strong cultural sense of hospitality and want to make sure guests are treated fairly and with respect. If there is negligence, the tribal court will make sure injured guests are treated fairly.

Because the tribes are not paying out of pocket, these claims are definitely worth pursuing. This is particularly true when the injury takes place at a casino owned by a tribe that has adopted or turns to guidance from the Washington State Court Rules or the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

All that being said, I think it’s important to end with a cautionary note: Tribes are not subject to the three year statute of limitations that applies to most tort claims in the state of Washington. Because they are effectively sovereign nations, tribes are allowed to enact any statute of limitation they want. These limitation periods certainly can be less than three years and in some cases as short as sixty days. It’s important not to delay when an injury occurs on Indian Land.

Comments for this article are closed.