Oklahoma Attorney General Files Suit To Stop Broken Arrow Casino

Oklahoma's Attorney General is taking the tribe behind the Broken Arrow casino to federal court.

Scott Pruitt filed a complaint Tuesday against the Kialegee Tribal King Tiger Hobia in U.S. District Court in Tulsa.

Read the complaint filed in Federal Court

The suit seeks to stop the tribe from building the Red Clay Casino in Broken Arrow, citing the tribe's failure to get federal approval.

"The Kialegees do not have the authority to pick and choose which steps to follow in the federal or state approval process of establishing casinos," Pruitt said in a statement.

Dennis Whittlesey, a Washington, DC attorney who represents the Kialegee Tribal Town, told News On 6 in January that federal law is on their side and he is confident the Broken Arrow casino will be built.

He released the following statement in response to Pruitt's lawsuit: 

"As the Attorney General knows, or should know, there can be no violation of the Gaming Compact until or unless Class III gaming is conducted. As for Class II gaming, there can be no action taken because the Compact does not concern Class II gaming. Because there is no violation of the Compact, the best thing that the State can hope for is that the lawsuit will be stayed rather than dismissed for failure to state a cause for action. We will move to have the Attorney General and his staff recused from this litigation because he is personally biased in that he is a deacon in the church leading the anti-casino protests. In addition, we are astonished that of all the fine attorneys in Oklahoma that the Attorney General of Oklahoma retained an attorney from New Mexico to represent his office in this litigation. Finally, we believe that the complaint filed demonstrates a fundamental failure to research and understand the basis of the Kialegee Tribal Town's claims in this case and we are confident that the Attorney General will reconsider the decision to prosecute a frivolous lawsuit."

01/25/2012 Related Story: Attorney For Proposed Broken Arrow Casino Confident It Will Be Built

The 21-page filing names as defendants King Hobia, Florence Development Partners, First Warrior Thomas Givens and members of the tribe's business committee.