ESTATE OF T'SUNKE WITKO
P.O Box 698
Rosebud, South Dakota 57570
Seth H. Big Crow, Sr., Administrator
Robert P.W. Gough, Attorney for the Estate
(605)747-5426 (605)856-2879
After an eight year legal battle the Crazy Horse Defense Project
is pleased to announce that Stroh Brewing Company, owner of G.
Heileman Brewing Company, one of the defendants in The Crazy Horse
Malt Liquor case, has settled with the Estate of Crazy Horse and
the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.
The settlement agreement provides for a public apology and acknowledgment of the Estate's right to protect the name of Crazy Horse, and for delivery of culturally appropriate damages-seven race horses and thirty-two Pendleton blanket, braids of tobacco and sweet grass, in compensation for this insult and defamation to the spirit of Crazy Horse.
The malt liquor was bottled in 7 facilities and sold in 32 states.
The date of April 26, 2001 at 3:00 PM has been set for delivery of the compensation and the public apology. The Ceremony will take place at Sinte Gleska University, Multi-Purpose Building, in Mission, South Dakota on the Rosebud Reservation. Contact Seth H. BigCrow, Administrator for the Estate of Crazy Horse, at 605-747-2381 ext. 23, 605-747-2261 or 605-747-5426 (evenings) for more information.
This is a historic victory in the battle to protect the name of Crazy Horse and the cultural property of all tribes. This settlement recognizes the important role of Tribal Customary Law in protecting indigenous Intellectual Property and sends a strong message that people cannot just take Indian Cultural Property and use it without permission. We thank all our supporters for their help and encouragement during the past eight years. We invite everyone to come and be present at the ceremony.
While this settlement is cause for celebration we remind everyone that the big battle with Hornell Brewing, and Ferolito, Vultaggio & Sons (the makers of AriZona Iced Tea Products) continues and these defendants are liable for both culturally appropriate and monetary damages. We must continue to put public pressure on these companies to get them to stop making Crazy Horse Malt Liquor and where possible efforts must be intensified. Keep on fighting and don't stop now.
Please refer to our web site: www.crazyhorsedefense.org
for future action alerts and information. See you in Mission!
CONTACTS: Robert Gough, Attorney for Estate - (605)856-2879
Stuart Kaler, co-counsel - (415) 387-8550
ROSEBUD, SD -- The Hornell and G. Heileman brewing companies,
and Ferolito, Vultaggio & Sons, who also make "Arizona
Iced Teas," are ordered by Rosebud Sioux Supreme Court to
face a "prompt trial on the merits" in Rosebud Tribal
Court in a dispute over the rights to use the name of famed Lakota
leader Crazy Horse on a 40-ounce malt liquor.
"They have taken his name and slapped it on a cheap beer
for a quick buck," said Seth H. Big Crow, Sr., administrator
for the Estate of T'sunka Witko, a.k.a. Crazy Horse, who hailed
the long awaited decision as a major victory in the protection
of cultural rights. "Crazy Horse fought and died protecting
Indian people from things like alcohol. His spirit and reputation
deserve greater respect," said Big Crow from his home
on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota.
The brand has been sold in some forty states since 1992 over the
protests of the family, many tribes, churches and numerous national
organizations, including the U.S Congress. The Court noted that
the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has twice refused to register
the brand label because the mark consists of matter which "may
disparage or bring into contempt or disrepute the renowned Oglala
Sioux chief, warrior, and spiritual leader, Crazy Horse."
In a forty page decision released on June 14th, the Rosebud Sioux
Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the right of the Crazy Horse
descendants to proceed to trial in tribal court over the appropriation,
unwarranted commercial exploitation and defamation of the Crazy
Horse persona. The decision reverses a lower tribal court's dismissal
in 1994 of the suit filed by the Estate against the beer makers
for lack of personal and subject matter jurisdiction, and remands
the case "for a prompt trial on the merits."
Based upon evidence presented by the Estate, the Supreme Court
found the Rosebud Tribal Court does have proper personal and subject
matter jurisdiction to hear the case against the malt liquor producers.
The six justices agreed that defendants "have purposefully
availed themselves of the forum" although they had studiously
avoided the actual marketing and sale on the South Dakota reservation.
''Given the marketing and sale of similar - but non-offending
- products in the forum, this avoidance appears to be a most cynical
ploy,'' the Court noted.
The Court announced that the reach of the Tribe's long arm statute
is "coexistent with the federal due process clause"
and that the defendants, based in Brooklyn, N.Y., and LaCrosse,
Wisconsin, had sufficient "minimum contacts" with the
South Dakota reservation and the Estate for tribal court jurisdiction.
The Rosebud Sioux Supreme Court affirmed a lower court's ruling
that the plaintiffs held a "right of publicity" on the
Crazy Horse persona in the context of commercial exploitation.
Plaintiffs are descendants living on the Cheyenne River, Pine
Ridge and Rosebud Sioux Reservations. The Supreme Court, however,
found that the lower tribal court erroneously ignored numerous
facts regarding the defendants' physical and business activities
"purposefully directed" to the forum, with notice and
knowledge of the "potential adverse effects" on the
descendants living on the Sioux reservations.
Administrator Big Crow said, "Time and again, we have asked
Ferolito, Vultaggio & Sons to stop using the name of our grandfather,
but they choose to ignore us. Italian people rightly don't like
to be associated with gangsters, and Indian people don't want
our spiritual leaders wrongly associated with alcohol," Big
Crow added. "They have forced us into this lawsuit to defend
our rights as human beings to have our grandfather's name and
memory respected. Now, we may finally get our day in court."
In related matters, several states, including Washington and Minnesota,
have prohibited the use of the malt liquor label. In December,
the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union challenged Minnesota's revocation
of the brand label on ''free speech" grounds in a lawsuit
filed on behalf of these multi-million dollar beverage producers
which is scheduled to be argued on June 20th in St. Paul.
The beer makers also produce the highly profitable "Arizona
Iced Tea" line of products. Last year, owners Ferolito
and Vultaggio reportedly split some $860 million after taxes from
the sale of their beverages packaged in Indian designs. The "Arizona"
products have also been the subject of national boycotts because
of their association with the offensively labeled malt liquor.
