"Oglala Sioux Tribe Files Lawsuit Against Anheuser-Busch InBev, Molson Coors, Pabst, Miller Brewers"

Press Release via MarketWatcch:

LINCOLN, Neb., Feb. 9, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- The Oglala Sioux Tribe has filed a lawsuit against brewers, retailers and distributors of alcohol sold in Whiteclay, Nebraska. The lawsuit was announced today at a news conference hosted by Nebraskans for Peace. 

Attorney Tom White, legal counsel for the Oglala Sioux Tribe, said the defendants are engaged in a common enterprise focused on assisting and participating in the illegal importation of alcohol sold at Whiteclay onto the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The sale, possession and consumption of alcohol is illegal on the Pine Ridge, where tribal members suffer from crippling poverty and alcoholism rates. Whiteclay lies less than 250 feet from the reservation border. 

"The Oglala Sioux Tribe seeks compensation for all of the damages the Lakota people have suffered as a result of illegal alcohol sales," said White, who is with White and Jorgensen Law Offices in Omaha. "The defendants have failed to make reasonable efforts to ensure their products are distributed and sold in obedience to the laws of the State of Nebraska and the Oglala Sioux Tribe." 

"We can now begin to address the terrible harm to the Lakota people caused by Whiteclay alcohol sales," said OST vice president Tom Poor Bear. Since two of Poor Bear's brothers were found murdered outside Whiteclay in 1999, he has fought to bring their killers to justice and close the Whiteclay beer stores....MORE