On March 15, 2016, the Connecticut Supreme Court, in the case of Lewis v. Clarke, held that a tribal employee is immune from being sued in the Connecticut Superior Court. The case involved a claim for damages arising out of an automobile crash that occurred off of tribal land. The plaintiffs were injured when their limousine driver negligently caused a crash on Interstate Route 95. The limousine driver was a casino employee. They attempted to sue the casino employee in the Connecticut Superior Court- not in the tribal court. The court ruled that, because the casino employee was acting within the “scope of his employment” with the tribe at the time of the subject crash, he was entitled to sovereign immunity. These claims have to be brought in the tribal courts.
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