Meyers v. Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendant-Indian tribe’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s action alleging that defendant violated Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA), when defendant issued plaintiff credit card transaction receipt that contained more than last five digits of his credit card number, as well as his credit card’s expiration date. FACTA could not be applied against defendant, since defendant was entitled to assert tribal sovereign immunity, where: (1) Indian tribes possess common-law immunity from suit traditionally held by sovereign powers, unless Congress clearly and unequivocally registers intent to abrogate tribal immunity; and (2) Congress did not register said abrogation in FACTA, where it did not specifically include Indian tribes in FACTA’s definition of “person.” Ct. rejected plaintiff’s claim that Indian tribes were included in term “every government” that was contained within definition of “person.” Ct. also noted that, under Spokeo, 135 S. Ct 1540, question remained as to whether plaintiff’s “injury” in instant case was sufficiently concrete to confer standing on him to assert instant alleged violation of FACTA.