Lawsuit Against Washington Commanders Dismissed

On April 3, 2024, a federal district court judge in North Dakota dismissed a lawsuit against the Washington Commanders and one of their ticket representatives. The lawsuit was brought by the Native American Guardian’s Association (“NAGA”), which claimed that the Commanders defamed the group and conspired to silence the voice of indigenous people who opposed the change of the team’s previous name: the “Redskins.” [1]

The facts that prompted this lawsuit occurred in 2023. After the Washington Redskins changed its name to the Commanders, NAGA publicly advocated against the name change because it believed that the prior name honored Native American culture. [2] After this, one of the Commanders’ ticket representatives, Matthew Laux, tried to sell luxury box tickets to a member of NAGA who boycotted the team and stopped buying tickets directly because of the name change. [3] NAGA then alleged that Laux called the organization a “fake group,” and that the Commanders “tried to silence NAGA’s viewpoints by casting doubts on [its] legitimacy as ‘real’ Native Americans.” [4] In its complaint, an attorney for NAGA said that these actions were objectionable because “a basic Google search that anyone can perform proves [that] NAGA is, in fact, a legitimate entity.” [5]

NAGA also alleged that the Commanders engaged in a conspiracy with National Congress of American Indians (“NCAI”), a Native American group who supported the team’s refusal to return to name “Redskins.” NAGA argued that the Commanders and NCAI worked together to violate its civil rights. [6] For this cause of action, NAGA believed that the Commanders conspired with a “small group of politically connected, elite Native Americans” at NCAI to champion the team’s new name so that it would be more palatable to the public and therefore earn more revenue. [7]

These arguments, however, were rejected by Judge Peter Welte because the Commanders did not have the sufficient presence to defend these accusations in North Dakota. According to the Court, NAGA, which initiated the suit in North Dakota, did not provide sufficient facts to support a reasonable inference that it could exercise personal jurisdiction over the Commanders. [8] Personal jurisdiction is the authority for a court to hear a case. This authority can be determined through a defendants’ contacts with the state, whether the defendants did business with or were incorporated in the state, or whether the defendants’ actions caused an injury within the state. [9]

While the Commanders scouted players in North Dakota and sold tickets to its residents, Judge Welte found that these actions were not strong enough to warrant keeping the suit in the state. [10] Moreover, the Court found it difficult to comprehend how Laux could have fair notice that he would be subjected to a legal proceeding in North Dakota when he made a phone call in Maryland—where the Commanders are incorporated—to a woman in Washington, D.C. about NAGA. NAGA is a Virginia-based organization. [11]

Judge Welte also justified the Court’s rejection of personal jurisdiction because North Dakota did not have an interest in permitting the litigation to proceed in the state. According to the Court, the lawsuit’s facts involved “a football team from Washington D.C., a statement made in Maryland, and an alleged conspiracy between an owner of the football team and a non-profit group that is a citizen of Oklahoma.” [12] Because of this, Judge Welte found that North Dakota had “no conceivable interest” in adjudicating a dispute based on actions that occurred outside of, and were not specifically directed at, North Dakota. Therefore, Judge Welte dismissed NAGA’s lawsuit because North Dakota did not have the proper authority to entertain the case.

NAGA, as a Virginia-based organization, can still initiate the suit in the Washington, D.C. area. If it chose to do so, it is likely that NAGA would survive a motion to dismiss there because the case’s factual issues and actors have sufficient ties to either Virginia, Maryland, or Washington D.C. Currently, it is not know whether NAGA plans on refiling the suit in any of these locations.