Strate v. A-1 Contractors, 520 U. S. 438 (1997)

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Cite as: 520 U. S. 438 (1997)

Opinion of the Court

tribe or its members, through commercial dealing, contracts, leases, or other arrangements." 450 U. S., at 565. The tortious conduct alleged in Fredericks' complaint does not fit that description. The dispute, as the Court of Appeals said, is "distinctly non-tribal in nature." 76 F. 3d, at 940. It "arose between two non-Indians involved in [a] run-of-the-mill [highway] accident." Ibid. Although A-1 was engaged in subcontract work on the Fort Berthold Reservation, and therefore had a "consensual relationship" with the Tribes, "Gisela Fredericks was not a party to the subcon-tract, and the [T]ribes were strangers to the accident." Ibid.

Montana's list of cases fitting within the first exception, see 450 U. S., at 565-566, indicates the type of activities the Court had in mind: Williams v. Lee, 358 U. S. 217, 223 (1959) (declaring tribal jurisdiction exclusive over lawsuit arising out of on-reservation sales transaction between nonmember plaintiff and member defendants); Morris v. Hitchcock, 194 U. S. 384 (1904) (upholding tribal permit tax on nonmember-owned livestock within boundaries of the Chickasaw Nation); Buster v. Wright, 135 F. 947, 950 (CA8 1905) (upholding Tribe's permit tax on nonmembers for the privilege of conducting business within Tribe's borders; court characterized as "inherent" the Tribe's "authority . . . to prescribe the terms upon which noncitizens may transact business within its borders"); Colville, 447 U. S., at 152-154 (tribal authority to tax on-reservation cigarette sales to nonmembers "is a fundamental attribute of sovereignty which the tribes retain unless divested of it by federal law or necessary implication of their dependent status"). Measured against these cases, the Fredericks-Stockert highway accident presents no "consensual relationship" of the qualifying kind.

The second exception to Montana's general rule concerns conduct that "threatens or has some direct effect on the political integrity, the economic security, or the health or welfare of the tribe." 450 U. S., at 566. Undoubtedly, those

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