Federal Court Dismisses Credit Reporting Case Against Tribal Lender

A federal magistrate judge in the Eastern District of Virginia dismissed a lawsuit this month against Plain Green, LLC, a tribal lending entity (TLE) wholly owned and operated by the Chippewa Cree Tribe of Rocky Boy Reservation, on the grounds that the tribe’s sovereign immunity from suit applied to the TLE as well. The case was originally filed against Plain Green and TransUnion, LLC, a credit bureau, for an alleged failure to investigate and remedy the publication of inaccurate information in a credit report. In citing to Supreme Court precedent, the court noted that sovereign immunity extends to economic subdivisions of the tribe, like the TLE, even when the TLE is conducting business off reservation. This case joins a growing list of dismissals against TLEs for sovereign immunity grounds in courts across the country, including Georgia, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Connecticut.