A Suffolk County judge has ordered the Shinnecock Nation to stop building a gas station on the tribe’s Hampton Bays property known as Westwoods, pouring more fuel on the long-burning legal fire.
Judge Maureen Liccione granted the Town of Southampton’s request when she issued a preliminary injunction on March 17 prohibiting the Shinnecock Nation Council of Trustees from directing and supervising the construction of the gas station and travel plaza. That decision came a week after attorneys for the tribe filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing that it lacked jurisdiction because the Shinnecock have sovereign immunity — yet attorneys for the Shinnecock are expected to appeal to overturn the injunction.
