California Supreme Court to review “rent-a-tribe” arrangement for payday lenders

Last week the California Supreme Court granted review in People v. Miami Nation Enterprises, which presents the issue of when a payday lending operation that is formally owned by a Native American tribe but run by a third-party who keeps most of the proceeds is protected by tribal sovereign immunity. The practice of payday lenders evading state regulation by affiliating with tribes has become a significant problem, so hopefully the Court will take this opportunity to cut back on broad assertions of tribal sovereign immunity by exploitative businesses.