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WASHINGTON (AP) — A unanimous Supreme Court says that Indian tribes' immunity from lawsuits does not always extend to their employees in incidents that occur far from Indian reservations.
The justices ruled Tuesday in a case that involved a limo driver who rear-ended a car on a Connecticut interstate. The court revived a state court civil lawsuit filed by the injured occupants of the car.
The case had been dismissed because the limo driver works for an Indian tribe with a casino in the state.
Indian tribes are like foreign governments in that they generally can't be sued in American courts.
But Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for the court that in cases like the one from Connecticut, "the tribe's sovereign immunity is not implicated."
New Justice Neil Gorsuch did not take part.
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