Facts
In November 1990, on a strip of state highway passing through the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, a gravel truck, owned by A-1 Contractors and driven by their employee Lyle Stockert allegedly struck Gisela Frederick's car. Seriously injured, Fredericks spent 24 days in the hospital.520 U.S. at 443. In May 1991, Fredericks filed a personal injury lawsuit in the Tribal Court for theOpinion
The Court held that the ''Montana'' Rule, which governs whether Tribes have civil jurisdiction over nonmembers on fee-simple land, also applied to the state-maintained public highway because the terms of the federal right of way grants the State control over traffic. The Tribe reserved the right to construct crossings, but did not reserve any rights to "dominion or control" over the right-of-way. Applying ''Montana'', Tribes do not have civil jurisdiction over matters involving non-Tribe members and occurring in areas within their reservation where they do not have dominion or control unless (1) the nonmembers "enter consensual relationships with the tribe or its members, through commercial dealing, contracts, leases, or other arrangements" or (2) the nonmember's conduct "threatens or has some direct effect on the political integrity, the economic security, or the health or welfare of the tribe."520 U.S. at 457–58. The Court found that neither exception applied. First, the Court found no "consensual relationship" for a car accident. Even though A-1 Contractors was in a consensual relationship with the Tribe as a subcontractor for a Tribally-owned company, Fredericks was not a party to this contract. The court differentiates the accident from prior case law where the "consensual relationship" exception applied, such as '' Williams v. Lee''; These cases typically involve sales taxes or taxes for doing business on the reservation. Second, although the Court recognized that "driv ngcarelessly on a public highway running through a reservation endanger all in the vicinity, and surely jeopardize the safety of tribal members", this concern is not enough of a threat to the welfare of the Tribe to qualify as an exception under ''Montana''. Instead, the Court quotes narrowing language from ''Montana'', asserting that "a tribe's inherent power does not reach beyond what is necessary to protect tribal self-government or to control internal relations."520 U.S. at 459 (brackets omitted).See also
* ''References
External links
* {{caselaw source , case = ''Strate v. A-1 Contractors'', {{ussc, 520, 438, 1997, el=no , courtlistener =https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/118105/strate-v-a-1-contractors/ , justia =https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/520/438/ , loc =http://cdn.loc.gov/service/ll/usrep/usrep520/usrep520438/usrep520438.pdf , oyez =https://www.oyez.org/cases/1996/95-1872 1997 in United States case law United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Rehnquist Court Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation