The Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, which resides on a reservation on the eastern banks of the Missouri River in central South Dakota north of Chamberlain, is locked in a legal showdown with the federal government in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
The tribe contends its reservation of land includes rights to Missouri River water that the government has long allowed others to use illegally. Now, the tribe wants $200 million as compensation and also wants its water rights measured, or “quantified,” in the language of the tribe’s formal complaint. The government disputes the tribe’s claims and has filed a motion to dismiss them.
Nix, Patterson, LLP has a long history of vindicating the rights of tribal nations. NPR helped win a $186 million payment from the U.S. government for the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes in August 2015. The payment settled 100-year old claims that the government failed to protect tribal timber interests.
The Crow Creek Sioux Tribe is represented by NP partner Michael Angelovich and Of Counsel attorney Austin Tighe.
The Rapid City Journal article can be viewed below:
11/13/16