Healy Lake Village, D/b/a Mendas Cha~ag Tribe, a Federally Recognized Indian Tribe, Appellant v. Mt. McKinley Bank…

Summary

The Alaska Supreme Court affirmed dismissal of the Tribe-related action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Although the complaint was framed as a dispute over bank signatory authority, resolving it would have required the state court to determine which competing tribal council was legitimate, interpret tribal law, and potentially resolve tribal membership questions reserved to the Tribe's retained inherent sovereignty. The court also upheld the superior court's treatment of the motion as one under Rule 12(b)(1) and its denial of additional discovery.