Lawsuit over Wichita Tribal History Center is dismissed

 

 

The judge’s gavel has come down in  lawsuit filed by the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma over a Wichita Tribal History Center and it has been dismissed by an Oklahoma City federal judge.

U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton dismissed the suit because the history center is completed.

The Caddo Nation originally filed suit contending the Wichita Tribe had violated the National Environmental Policy Act as well as the National Historical Preservation Act. It won a temporary restraining order but it was later lifted.

As Judge Heaton pointed out in his recent ruling, “while the appeal was pending, the Wichita Tribe resumed construction of the History Center and the center was eventually completed.”

The Court of Appeals concluded the relief sought by the Caddo Nation was “moot and dismissed the appeal.” But the case was also sent back to Oklahoma City federal court where Judge Heaton ruled, “In short, the completion of the History Center renders plaintiff’s—claims moot, and there is no meaningful relief available which the court could order. As a result, no live case or controversy remains before the court and the case must be dismissed.”