The Ute Tribe issued a press release on Tuesday stating that on January 25th, the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah denied a motion by Roosevelt City to set a contempt hearing against the Ute Indian Tribe. “The federal court agreed with the Tribe that Roosevelt City’s motion was contrary to a consent decree entered by the Court in 2014 in
Poulson v. Ute Indian Tribe
.” According to the press release, the Tribe and Duchesne County officers had agreed in the consent decree that when a plaintiff files a suit in the Ute Tribal Court against a non-tribal government or its officers, a Ute Tribal Court judge will not permit a summons to be issued to the non-tribal government or its officers “if it is clear to the Ute Tribal Court judge that the Tribal Court lacks jurisdiction.” The Ute Tribe says shortly after the agreement, Duchesne County and the state of Utah began not “living up to their agreement to the consent decree.” Following the January 25th decision, the Tribal Business Committee issued a statement that the Tribe now expects that “having now lost on this issue twice before two different judges, the State and its subdivisions will not risk sanctions by repeating the argument a third time.”
