High court rejects tribal case

CARSON CITY -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday threw out a child support case involving an American Indian on the grounds the state cannot interfere in a tribal legal matter.

Norman Thomas, an Indian who lives on a reservation in Elko County, had appealed to the court after a district judge there refused to dismiss a child support case against him.

A non-Indian, Heather Lawrence, had sued him for child support. Their child was born and has lived his entire life on Duck Valley reservation, as do the parents.

Elko County prosecutors served a subpoena on Thomas when he was not on reservation land and filed the child support case against him.

But in 6-0 decision, the Supreme Court ruled the case must be dismissed because the Shoshone-Paiute Tribe reserves jurisdiction over child support matters in their judicial codes.

Whether Thomas was served on tribal or state land was irrelevant, justices stated.

Under federal Indian law and because of Indian sovereignty rights, a Nevada court cannot hear matters involving an Indian and non-Indian that occur on Indian land if the tribe has not consented to give it that authority, according to the decision.