Drumm v. Brown

Page 50

716 A.2d 50

245 Conn. 657

John C. DRUMM et al. v. G. Michael BROWN et al.

No. 15809.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued Jan. 15, 1998.

Decided July 28, 1998.

John R. Williams, New Haven, for appellants (plaintiffs).

David S. Williams, with whom was Elizabeth Conway, Norwich, for appellees (defendants).

Before BORDEN, BERDON, KATZ, PALMER and McDONALD, JJ.

BORDEN, Associate Justice.

The sole issue in this appeal is whether the trial court properly dismissed the plaintiffs' action on the ground that they had failed to exhaust the remedies available in the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Court (tribal court). The plaintiffs, John C. Drumm and Richard Perron, state police officers formerly assigned to the Foxwoods Casino (casino) on the Mashantucket Pequot Reservation (reservation), and Gerald O. Maranda, formerly an employee in the security unit at the casino, appeal from the judgment of the trial court ¹ dismissing their action against the defendants, G. Michael Brown, Robert J. Carroll, George H. Henningsen, Robert T. Winter and Richard A. Hayward, all of whom are officers of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe (tribe) or the tribe's unincorporated, wholly owned instrumentality, the Mashantucket Pequot Gaming Enterprise (gaming enterprise). Haywood is also a member of the tribe.

The plaintiffs claim that the trial court improperly dismissed their complaint because that court was obligated to exercise its jurisdiction over the complaint. The defendants claim that the trial court properly dismissed the complaint under the federal doctrine of exhaustion of tribal remedies. We conclude that under the particular facts of this case, at this stage of the proceedings the action should be stayed as to Drumm and Perron, and the action of Maranda should proceed in the trial court. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the trial court.

In September, 1996, the plaintiffs filed a three count complaint against the defendants ² in the Superior Court for the judicial district of Middlesex. According to the allegations of the complaint, actions taken by the defendants in response to the plaintiffs' participation in an investigation into possible criminal activities at the casino harmed the plaintiffs in various ways. Specifically, the plaintiffs alleged that "the defendants maliciously conspired and acted together ... [in] suspend[ing] ... Maranda from his position [as a security administrator at the casino] on December 12, 1995, and caus[ing] him to be discharged on December 26, 1995 ... [and in] releas[ing] to the news media a false allegation that ... Perron had committed a criminal act in the course of his duties...." In addition, the complaint alleged that the defendants "exercised their political influence with the Governor of Connecticut to cause him to pressure the Commissioner of Public Safety to limit the role of the State Police in investigating crime at [the casino]...." According to the complaint, "[t]he actions of the defendants were malicious, extreme and outrageous and were carried out with the intention of causing the plaintiffs to suffer emotional distress and of thereby intimidating law enforcement officials in the State of Connecticut...." Finally, the complaint alleged that "[a]s a direct and proximate result of the actions of the defendants ... Drumm and Perron were involuntarily removed from their State Police assignments [at the casino] and transferred to other duties ... Maranda has been unemployed since the end of December, 1995, and has suffered and in the future will suffer great economic loss; all plaintiffs have been held up to public scorn, derision and ridicule; and all plaintiffs have suffered extreme emotional distress." Although the precise causes of action asserted are not clear--and we render no opinion as to whether the plaintiffs' pleadings are sufficient in any respect--the complaint appears to attempt to make claims, on behalf of all the plaintiffs, based on infliction of emotional distress, libel and defamation, and malicious prosecution; on behalf of Drumm and Perron, based on interference with contractual relations; and on behalf of Maranda, based on wrongful discharge.

The complaint, which is drafted in general terms, gives very little detail regarding the facts underlying its allegations. A report of the state's attorney for the judicial district of New London concerning the underlying incident, which the defendants submitted to the trial court, without objection, at the hearing on the motion to dismiss, illuminates the factual background, however. ³ The trial court rendered its judgment on the basis of the general allegations of the complaint and the state's attorney's report, and we review that judgment on the same basis.

On December 6, 1996, the defendants, citing the "plaintiffs' failure to exhaust tribal remedies," moved to dismiss the complaint or, in the alternative, to stay the proceedings. On June 27, 1997, the trial court granted the defendants' motion and rendered judgment dismissing the plaintiffs' action. This appeal followed.

In the meantime, on July 31, 1997, Drumm and Perron filed a complaint in the tribal court against the tribe, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Council and the gaming enterprise. That complaint made claims substantially similar to those in the complaint that they had filed in the trial court.

The plaintiffs claim that the trial court improperly dismissed their complaint because that court was obligated to exercise its jurisdiction over this matter. Implicit in this claim is the assertion that the exhaustion of tribal remedies doctrine does not apply to the courts of this state. In the alternative, the plaintiffs assert that even if the exhaustion doctrine does apply, the trial court should have exercised its discretion to retain jurisdiction of this case because: (1) the failure to exhaust tribal remedies is excused by the supposed likelihood of bias in favor of the defendants on the part of the tribal court; and (2) state interests in the dispute, which consist chiefly of ensuring evenhanded enforcement of state criminal laws, outweigh those of the tribe, which are assertedly minimal because few of the parties are tribal members and, purportedly, few of the key events took place on the reservation.

The defendants argue that the trial court correctly applied the doctrine of exhaustion of tribal remedies. Specifically, they claim that: (1) the doctrine is binding on state courts; (2) pursuant to the doctrine, a nontribal court must abstain whenever a tribal remedy is arguably available to the plaintiff, even in the absence of a pending parallel proceeding in a tribal court; and (3) when the plaintiff has failed to exhaust tribal remedies, absent satisfaction of one of a narrow set of exceptions, none of which applies here, the obligation to abstain is mandatory, precluding the exercise of discretion.

We conclude that: (1) the doctrine of exhaustion of tribal remedies is binding on the courts of this state, superseding the general obligation upon our courts to exercise their jurisdiction; and (2) the trial court's dismissal of the plaintiffs' action was improper, however, because the doctrine applies only when a parallel proceeding is pending in the tribal court and, at the time of the trial court's judgment, no such proceeding was pending. We also conclude, however, that the action initiated in the tribal court by Drumm and Perron after the filing of this appeal constitutes a pending parallel tribal court proceeding that triggered the application of the doctrine, and that absent satisfaction of one of a narrow set of exceptions, under the doctrine a nontribal court must abstain when a parallel proceeding is pending before a tribal court. We conclude further that: those exceptions do not apply when both the tribal and state court proceedings have been initiated by the same party or parties; therefore, abstention is warranted with respect to the actions of Drumm and Perron; and, in this case, the proper form of abstention is a stay of proceedings instead of dismissal. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the trial court and remand the case to that court with direction to stay the action as to Drumm and Perron, and to conduct further proceedings in accordance with law as to Maranda.

I

Because the doctrine of exhaustion of tribal remedies is a matter of first impression in this jurisdiction, a review of the three United States Supreme Court cases that have generated and shaped the doctrine is in order. Those cases are: National Farmers Union Ins. Cos. v. Crow Tribe of Indians, 471 U.S. 845, 105 S.Ct. 2447, 85 L.Ed.2d 818 (1985); Iowa Mutual Ins. Co. v. LaPlante, 480 U.S. 9, 107 S.Ct. 971, 94 L.Ed.2d 10 (1987); and Strate v. A-1 Contractors, 520 U.S. 438, 117 S.Ct. 1404, 137 L.Ed.2d 661 (1997).

A

In National Farmers Union Ins. Cos. v. Crow Tribe of Indians, supra, 471 U.S. at 855-57, 105 S.Ct. 2447, which was decided in 1985, the United States Supreme Court first articulated the doctrine of tribal remedies. That case arose out of a motorcycle accident on the premises of a Montana public school, situated on property owned by the state but lying within the boundary of the Crow reservation. Id., at 847, 105 S.Ct. 2447. A Crow Indian minor who had sustained injuries in the accident filed an action in the Crow Tribal Court against the school district, a political subdivision of the state. The minor obtained a default judgment. Id. Without attempting an appeal within the tribal judicial system, the school district and its insurer, National Farmers Union Insurance Companies, filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Montana against the Crow Tribe, the Crow Tribal Council, the chairman of that council, the Crow Tribal Court, and the judges of that court. Id., at 848, 105 S.Ct. 2447. The complaint alleged that the tribal court lacked jurisdiction over the nonIndian school district, and sought an...