American Indian tribe’s lawsuit against beer stores dismissed
Although a federal judge dismissed an American Indian tribe’s lawsuit on 2 October 2012 that blamed brewers and several stores for chronic alcoholism on an impoverished South Dakota reservation, the judge also said that the case belonged in a state court, thus giving a subtle moral support to the tribe’s claims, U.S. media report.
The lawsuit was filed by the Oglala Sioux Tribe, which governs the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, where alcohol is banned. According to U.S. media, four beer stores named in the suit sold the equivalent of 4.3 million 12-ounce beer cans last year, even though they’re in Whiteclay, a Nebraska town with about a dozen residents on the other side of the reservation’s border.
"There is, in fact, little question that alcohol sold in Whiteclay contributes significantly to tragic conditions on the reservation," U.S. District Judge John M. Gerrard was quoted as saying in his ruling. "And it may well be that the defendants could, or should, do more to try to improve those conditions for members of the tribe. But that is not the same as saying that a federal court has jurisdiction to order them to do so."
The judge dismissed the case "without prejudice", meaning the tribe can take its claims to a state court.
The tribe will consider the ruling and then decide on how to proceed.
American Indians inside the reservation have struggled with alcoholism for generations, despite an alcohol ban in place since 1832. One in four children born on the reservation allegedly suffers from foetal alcohol syndrome or foetal alcohol spectrum disorder. The average life expectancy is estimated between 45 and 52 years, compared to the average American life expectancy of 77.5 years.
As BRAUWELT International reported, the tribe filed the lawsuit in February this year against the four Whiteclay beer stores, as well as regional distributors and four brewers: Anheuser-Busch, Molson Coors, MillerCoors and Pabst Brewing Company.
The lawsuit alleges that the stores and brewers knowingly sold alcohol to Pine Ridge residents, being fully aware that they would smuggle it onto the reservation to drink or sell on. The brewers supplied the stores with "volumes of beer far in excess of an amount that could be sold in compliance with the laws of the state of Nebraska", the lawsuit claims.
Pine Ridge legalised alcohol in 1970 but restored the ban two months later, and an attempt to allow it in 2004 died after public outcry, it was reported.
