LAW360 (Native feed)

A New York bankruptcy judge Wednesday said he would approve nearly $46 million in bonus payments for employees of Purdue Pharma, but held off considering a $1.3 million bonus for the company's CEO after hearing last-minute evidence of a $6 million payment made to him last year.

A Utah federal judge has nixed a suit by Ute Indian Tribe members challenging their five-year banishment from the tribe’s reservation for allegedly interfering with a tribal lawsuit against the federal government, finding that a temporary ouster doesn't allow the members to bring Indian Civil Rights Act claims.

The Seneca Nation has urged a New York federal court to pause a judgment ordering it to give the state more than $255 million in unpaid casino revenue under a tribal-state gaming compact while it appeals the ruling.

Documents detailing the terms of the proposed Chapter 11 plan of pain medication maker Insys Therapeutics Inc. received court approval Wednesday in Delaware, with a judge saying they adequately described the plan ahead of a January confirmation hearing.

Six Wisconsin municipalities have revised their request for a federal court to dismiss them from a dispute between Chippewa tribes and the state over property taxes on tribal lands, clarifying they aren’t taking a position in favor of either party.

A Montana federal judge on Monday rejected a bid by a property owner and her community organization to block tribes from hunting bison on public land near Yellowstone National Park as the plaintiffs pursue claims that the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service have mishandled the hunt.

Attorneys representing cities and counties suing the drug industry over the opioid crisis told the Ohio federal judge overseeing litigation late Monday that a novel negotiation class proposal aimed at striking a global deal has won strong support across the country.

The Tenth Circuit on Monday denied the Cherokee Nation's request to stay the mandate on a September panel ruling that found the federal government can take a parcel of land on the tribe's former reservation into trust for the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma.

The Navajo Nation sued the U.S. Department of the Interior on Tuesday seeking the full $17 million it requested for judiciary funding for 2019, saying the federal government’s decision to only offer a fraction of that amount goes against the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act.

The Federal Circuit's recent decision in IPR Licensing overruled precedent to hold that the cross-appeal rule is not jurisdictional, demonstrating the complexity of this seemingly simple rule and its various application within the circuit courts, says Michael Soyfer at Quinn Emanuel.

The federal government told the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday that the U.S. Forest Service had the authority to grant developers of the $7 billion Atlantic Coast gas pipeline a right-of-way across the Appalachian National Scenic Trail and that the Fourth Circuit was wrong to hold otherwise.

An electrical contractor sued a joint venture of engineering firms Bethel and Webcor in California federal court Monday, saying the companies stiffed it on part of a nearly $10 million subcontract for construction work at U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.

Bankrupt opioid maker Insys Therapeutics Inc. filed an amended Chapter 11 plan Friday in Delaware that reflects the negotiated agreement reached among the debtor and its creditors, including the U.S. Department of Justice and numerous states, municipalities and Native American tribes.

The Federal Communications Commission on Monday set a window of time for Native American tribes to claim spectrum licenses that are being temporarily reserved for them.

A group of Navajo landowners pressed a New Mexico federal court Friday to allow nearly 200 more tribe members to intervene in a challenge from environmental groups to the Bureau of Land Management's approval of more than 250 oil and gas drilling permits in the Mancos Shale.

The Ninth Circuit has affirmed the dismissal of a suit accusing an Indian Health Service physician's assistant of negligently treating a Navajo Nation citizen, causing a partial foot amputation, saying the patient’s medical experts were not qualified.

The Cayuga Nation and a council member have urged a New York state judge not to toss their suit claiming Showtime's "Billions" defamed them, saying an episode trafficked in Native American stereotypes in its portrayal of a female character sharing the official's last name and tribal role.

Chemical manufacturer FMC Corp. said that a recent Ninth Circuit panel decision requiring the company to pay $1.5 million in yearly permit fees to store hazardous waste on the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes’ reservation should be reheard en banc because it improperly expands the jurisdiction of tribal courts.

Tribes, voting activists, urban American Indian organizations and attorneys are collaborating closely with the federal government as the 2020 census looms and taking the wheel on outreach efforts to make sure Native Americans don't lose out on federal funding or the political benefits of an accurate count.

The former general counsel for the National Congress of American Indians urged an Oregon federal judge Wednesday to reject the group's bid to escape his suit claiming its news outlet and two other news websites defamed him, saying they had "ruined [his] stellar career" by publishing articles containing false sexual harassment accusations against him.