By Ed White
Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) -- A federal appeals court revived a lawsuit last Friday challenging a new casino in southwestern Michigan on the same day as the American Indian tribe announced the day it would open for gambling.
The court said casino foe David Patchak of Allegan County's Wayland Township can challenge how the federal government placed the land in trust for the Gun Lake Tribe of Pottawatomi Indians.
"If the casino opens, it may not stay that way for very long," said Patchak's lawyer, John Bursch.
The tribe said the casino will open Feb. 11 in Wayland Township, 20 miles south of Grand Rapids. It will have 700 employees, with 1,450 slot machines, gaming tables and entertainment acts.
"The land is still in trust, and the casino will open," the tribe's spokesman James Nye said, noting that the court did not rule on the merits of the lawsuit.
Patchak's lawyers have argued that the U.S. Interior Department did not have the authority to put the land in trust, thus clearing the way for a casino, because the tribe was not federally recognized until after 1934. A 1934 federal law authorized the government to put land in trust for use by Indian tribes. They believe their position is stronger after a 2009 U.S. Supreme Court decision in a similar case.
Before that decision, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., dismissed Patchak's lawsuit, saying he had no standing to sue. But the appeals court reversed that ruling and sent the case back for a fresh look.
"He alleged that the rural character of the area would be destroyed, that the value of his property would be diminished and that he would lose the enjoyment of the agricultural land surrounding the casino site," the appeals court said.
"It would be very strange to deny Patchak standing in this case," the three-judge panel said.
Tribe Chairman D.K. Sprague said the lawsuit is "frivolous."
Published: Tue, Jan 25, 2011
