The Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians filed the final brief in its motion on Friday, proposing to dismiss three federal cases brought by opposing casino tribes.
The filings by Scotts Valley, looking to build a casino in Vallejo, aim to explain that its trust land is essential to its governmental functions, economic development, and ability to provide housing and services to its tribal members.
“These lawsuits are an attempt to prevent the Tribe from exercising its sovereign right to pursue economic development on its rightful ancestral land,” Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians Chairman Shawn Davis said on Friday. “Two of the opposing casinos are located more than an hour from our land and have no reason to interfere with a fair and binary process except to protect their own financial interests. We will not bend under the knee of greed. It’s wrong. We will continue to fight valiantly to defend the Tribe’s rights, history, and economic future – both for the Scotts Valley and Vallejo.”
The Tribe filed motions to intervene and to dismiss in:
The lawsuits brought by the tribes that own Cache Creek Casino, San Pablo Lytton Casino, and Thunder Valley Casino Resort challenge the Jan. 10, 2025, decision of the Department of the Interior to place into trust a 160-acre parcel of land in Vallejo for purposes of gaming, government operations, and housing for tribal members.
Scotts Valley wants to eventually build a casino that would include the construction of 24 single-family residences, a tribal administration building, a parking garage, and a 45-acre biological preserve area located within and adjacent to the city boundary in Solano County, near the intersection of Interstate 80 and Highway 37. The casino facility, for $700 million, would be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Hovering over the building of the casino is a ruling late in 2025 by Judge Trevor McFadden of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. McFadden rejected Scotts Valley’s efforts to invalidate the reconsideration process.
The same week, the Department of the Interior acknowledged that its original approval of the proposed casino may have been based on “legal error.” It noted that evidence submitted by local tribes and others “raises questions” about whether the project site qualifies for gaming. Underscoring the seriousness of those questions, McFadden stated that Scotts Valley “would be ill-served” by relying on the prior gaming eligibility determination while reconsideration is ongoing.
Many tribes have also questioned Scotts Valley’s casino, including the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, the Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation, the Lytton Rancheria of California, and the United Auburn Indian Community. All those tribes sent out a joint statement in January expressing “serious concern” with the temporary preview casino, even though the U.S. Department of the Interior continues an active reconsideration of the project’s gaming eligibility.
Chairman of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, Anthony Roberts, said in September that in his eyes the biggest of the problems with the decision is the claim that one of Scotts Valley’s ancestors — Chief Shuk Augustine, who was leader of the Pomos until he died in 1903 — previously lived in Vallejo and used the land. The Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation says this claim is false and that Augustine never lived in Vallejo.