Tribes Drop Payday-Loan Suit Against New York State

Wall Street Journal
Friday, October 31, 2014

Two Indian tribes with online lending operations have dropped a lawsuit filed against New York State, abandoning an effort to block the state from restricting their businesses. New York’s top banking regulator, Benjamin Lawsky, last year urged banks in his state to stop processing payments for lenders that violate the state’s cap on interest rates. The Oklahoma-based Otoe Missouria Tribe and Michigan-based Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians responded with a federal lawsuit against the state, arguing the state's campaign was trampling on their rights as sovereign tribes. But the tribes suffered a setback when a federal appeals court denied an injunction that would have barred New York from restricting tribal lending during litigation.