This time it's the Ayala Faction over the Lewis Faction. Oh, wait, Ayala has been suspended...
A U.S. District Court judge in Fresno dismissed a restraining order request in the continuing battle for control of the Chukchansi tribe after one group accused a competing faction of taking $316,017 that should have gone into a casino bank account overseen by both sides.
Judge Anthony Ishii said in a ruling Friday that his court "does not have jurisdiction" over a restraining order filed by the Reggie Lewis faction, which said that money was illegally taken by the other faction led by Tex McDonald.
The Lewis group was seeking a temporary restraining order to stop the McDonald faction from moving money in ways the Lewis side claims violate a New York judge's ruling last year.
Ishii also said he does not view the Lewis group as rightful leaders of the tribe even though the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs last month recognized a 2010 council election that included Lewis and four allies to lead the tribe. That decision is pending an appeal by the McDonald group with the federal Interior Board of Indian Appeals.
Without an appeal ruling, the judge said, he will not trigger any change.
"This court has received no indication that the IBIA (appeals board) has actually come to a decision on the issue," Ishii wrote in his decision.
No comments:
Post a Comment