Tribal Litigation

With nearly 70 attorneys and over 300 staff in offices in California, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Hawaii, Utah, and Mississippi, Singleton Schreiber is uniquely positioned to fearlessly advocate for its clients.

Singleton Schreiber is a client-centered law firm specializing in fire damage, environmental, class action, personal injury/wrongful death, civil rights, and public entity law.  We pride ourselves on protecting the interests of people against corporate wrongdoing.  We have the experience and resources to prosecute complex, groundbreaking cases and see them through to completion.  Furthermore, we are passionate about pushing back against the bullies who seek to take advantage of everyday people.

TRIBAL Litigation

Robert Saunooke has represented Native American Tribes and their members for over 30 years.  Mr. Saunooke is a leader in the field of Federal law as applied to Indians.  He has litigated cases in a wide variety of legal topics, all of which have impacted Native American communities including sovereign immunity, Tribal taxation, governmental regulation, treaty rights, and general family, criminal and civil law in Tribal, State and Federal courts throughout the United States. 

Mr. Saunooke has been recognized as an expert in the area of Native American law and issues and is regularly asked to speak on the relationship between Tribes and the surrounding communities.  He has negotiated complex cross jurisdictional agreements between Tribes and various States, lobbied on Tribal issues at a federal and state level, taught federal Indian law at Emory law school, and has worked as legal counsel and policy advisor for a number of federally recognized Tribes. 

In addition, Mr. Saunooke has been at the forefront of protecting the rights of Native American people in voting rights, civil rights, and recovery of damages from the breach of treaty rights and federal obligations due and owing to Tribes.  Mr. Saunooke will be heading up the team pursuing issues related to environmental and climate change damages to reservations, as well as the boarding school reparations.

Boarding School Acknowledgment and Reparation

For over 100 years the United States contracted with various religious organizations and other agencies to assist in management of the Federal Compulsory School Attendance law applicable only to Native Americans.  Native children were forcibly removed from their homes and sent to “boarding schools” where they could not speak their language, lost connection to culture and purpose, and learned how “not to be an Indian,” and were physically and mentally abused.  The results of the boarding school era were loss of life and a destruction of entire lines of familial relationships, language and Tribal connection.

In 2019 the First Nations of Canada pursued acknowledgment and reparations from the Canadian government and the agencies and churches that had operated the boarding schools in Canada.  In 2023 a settlement was reached that provided funding and created the ability to ensure that the First Nations culture would continue, and the damages caused were repaired.

Singleton Schreiber was determined to be at the front of similar actions in the United States and created the first legal team to pursue action in the United States similar to the actions in Canada. The Firm’s extensive experience and creative use of tort law provides a natural transition to recovering for the damages caused to Native Americans because of the forced assimilation of U.S. Boarding schools.  The firm is also committed to seeking reparations for individuals who suffered abuse and neglect, or worse, and recognizes that the damage from this conduct is generational. And federal legislation to create a truth and healing commission to address the assimilation policies of the U.S. through the boarding schools.

Climate Change

The companies that produce, sell and promote fossil fuels knew about the impact on the environment and the damage it would cause to natural resources, but concealed it from the public in pursuit of billions of dollars in profits.  One of the primary impacted areas is Native American communities who have seen an increase in flooding, loss of land base due to rising sea levels, and the erosion of native flora and fauna, fires, drought, infrastructure impacts, erosion of lands affecting crop production and damage to culturally significant sites.  Singleton Schreiber has created a team focusing solely on the negative impact on Native communities and is at the forefront of pursuing actions to remedy the harm caused by fossil fuel companies.

Our team of talented attorneys are at the top of their fields in each area of law that the firm provides services and representation.

Other Environmental Harms

Singleton Schreiber attorneys have substantial experience in litigating other environmental harms.  Singleton Schreiber lawyers have successfully brought claims for damage caused by utility-caused fires, lead, cadmium, arsenic and other heavy metals, petroleum products, uranium and other radionuclides, other mining wastes, PFAS (“Forever Chemicals”), asbestos, particulates and solvents in air, soil and water against the largest corporation[s] in America and the United States Government.  Singleton Schreiber lawyers have presented claims for property value loss, physical property damages, medical monitoring, personal injury, business losses, erosion, crop damage, infrastructure costs, contamination mitigation and remediation costs, and other economic losses.  With the participation of Robert Saunooke (described below), Singleton Schreiber is uniquely qualified to identify and value the special harms to tribal lands from environmental contamination.  Unique to Singleton Schreiber, we have on-staff environmental scientists who assist in obtaining the facts and analyzing the science to advance our clients’ claims.

MEET THE TEAM

Gerald Singleton	Kevin Hannon	Robert O. Saunooke Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians	Brian Colón	Paul Starita

HOLDING THE RESPONSIBLE ACCOUNTABLE

Singleton Schreiber fights for people who have been harmed by corporate greed.  We hold utility companies accountable for preventable wildfires.  We sue corporate defendants whose products and actions hurt people.  And we defend civil rights against prosecution.  Fearless advocacy.  That’s how we win.

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