Collete, Barry and Corey Coggins filed a lawsuit on July 22 against Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, EBCI Principal Chief Michell Hicks and EBCI Secretary of Operations Anthony Sequoyah. Given tribal council’s Aug. 2 passage of an ordinance prohibiting bear caging, it appears EBCI officials could be taken to court over another land-related dispute.
The complainants, alleging breach of contract and lease, are seeking prospective injunctive relief “against tribal officials acting in excess of their lawful authority,” according to the document.
An injunction cannot be declared against the tribe as a sovereign nation, though plaintiffs argued the Eastern Band had waived some of this immunity “relating to insurance covering the violations by Defendants for breach of the lease and under the Indian Civil Rights Act.” The Cogginses are lessees of an approximately 25-acre EBCI parcel per a Sept. 19, 2016, agreement with the tribe. The lawsuit claimed an unauthorized removal of dirt from five leased acres runs counter to a February 2026 amendment formalizing plaintiffs’ rights of ingress, egress, parking and development.
It contended that the excavation of a parcel, which the Cogginses had expressly intended, with lessor knowledge, to use for parking and rental cabins, was “personally directed and authorized” by Hicks and carried out by Sequoyah.
“As a direct result of the excavation, Plaintiffs have lost the practical ability to develop rental cabins on the affected land, have lost parking capacity guaranteed to them … and have suffered a diminished and disrupted right of way and access to the Boundary Tree Tract and adjoining parcels,” the document read.
EBCI’s removal of the Barclay Building, which leaseholders said they hadn’t approved, was categorized as violating a right of first refusal outlined in 2017 agreement. The lawsuit maintained the final breach had to do with “the parties’ mutual obligation to act in good faith” when negotiating terms of the lease.
While plaintiffs are seeking compensatory damages from the tribe, the lawsuit acknowledged this claim could be barred because of EBCI’s sovereign immunity and, in this instance, noted that the Coggins “bring parallel claims for prospective, non-monetary injunctive relief against the Official-Capacity Defendants under an Ex Parte Young ultra vires theory recognized by courts to permit suits against tribal officials.”
Also requested are monetary damages against Hicks and Sequoyah or the treasury, declaratory judgement against Hicks and Sequoyah, pre- and post- judgement interest and reasonable reimbursement of attorneys’ fees.
The rift between lessee and lessor was first exposed at an April 2 tribal council meeting in which a resolution was introduced to protect the tribe’s general contractor in light of claims made by Collette Coggins. During that meeting, Sequoyah clarified that another access point was constructed to ensure ingress and egress of a Duke Energy re-healing circuit at the pole behind Coggins’ Native Brews Tap & Grill without impeding her development. Coggins’ attorney, Rob Saunooke, claimed the subsequent route violated lease provisions, while EBCI Attorney General Mike McConnell argued the easement terms lacked a clear definition.
Several tribal members opposing the resolution argued Coggins’ allegations didn’t warrant a response — or even consideration. The Native Brews owner has publicly clashed with EBCI leaders and officials on multiple occasions. In 2018, 7 Clans brewing, which she co-owned, was criticized in tribal council for adopting a name many found offensive. Her ongoing roadside attraction called Cherokee Bear Zoo, with bears displayed to tourists and housed in small concrete pits, has continued to incite condemnation across the Qualla Boundary, finally reaching a head at tribal council on Aug. 2 when EBCI set a date to outlaw this practice.
Enrolled member and environmental justice advocate Mary “Missy” Crowe had introduced an ordinance two months prior, seeking to ban the caging of bears — as well as, with some exceptions, wildlife, livestock or domestic animals — on the Qualla Boundary, which it framed as both outdated and antithetical to Indigenous values. The legislation recounted how, according to Cherokee legend, bears first convened to council in Kuwohi, where they hold dances each fall. Crowe’s original document imposed a fine up to $5,000 for any violation, and a later addendum included one year of imprisonment as an additional or alternative consequence.
Crowe on Aug. 2 said she’d been asked to consider a one-year phaseout, which she found acceptable. A new floor amendment extended that timeline by another year, prohibiting bear zoos from acquiring new animals after Sept. 1, 2026, with the official ban — and punishment — in effect Sept. 1, 2028. Registration of each bear with the Cherokee Animal Control Department would also be required.
Crowe authorized the revisions because, while the dates would shift, the end goal would be unchanged.
“I’ll be willing to accept these floor amendments. I’m willing to because at the end of the day it’s stopping this practice,” she said.
Boyd Owle (Birdtown) made a move to table the ordinance on the grounds that Crowe had agreed to discuss the content with Coggins and McConnell — and to reintroduce it the following month.
Crowe said though Owle was correct, upon discovering Coggins’ July 22 lawsuit, she took her concerns to the Yellow Hill Community Club, which had been on board with her proposal since she first submitted it. Since the ordinance had been pending for two months, they advised she get the ball rolling on its passage. At that point, McConnell informed council members that he’d seen Coggins in the lobby, where she was undergoing “a visible health event.”
“I think it would be respectful, and from a physical health standpoint, a good idea to table and bring this back,” he said.
No one seconded Owle’s motion to table, though it didn’t die on the floor because the discussion concerned the amendment — approved moments later by tribal council — instead of the legislation.
Coggins rose to speak two minutes after McConnell’s announcement.
“Myself or my attorney have not had the opportunity to look over this, other than the time that we’ve had here,” she said. “My attorney’s out of town, and I don’t agree with this.” Coggins added that while she found some of the document’s proposals acceptable, others were irredeemable.
“I don’t think it’s actually legal,” she said, claiming she was being “mowed over” and “taken advantage of.”
“For anybody that’s a business owner here, if you [tribal council members] come in tomorrow and you decide that you don’t like whatever, are we going to work toward just shutting them down?” she asked, insinuating she had no intention of phasing out.
However, the ordinance wasn’t proposed out-of-the-blue, nor the idea born earlier that week. Indeed, the fight against caging bears has been ongoing for nearly two decades in Cherokee.
Coggins, noting she’d witnessed McConnell on camera at her site, urged the attorney general to share his experience, a move that appeared to eventually backfire.
“Were you just appalled when you went in there?” She asked.
“No, I was not appalled. The areas are clean. The bears looked healthy,” McConnell said.
“At the same time, Ryan and I walked away with the idea that, as it says in the floor amendment, this is an old model of interacting with wildlife. And if the tribe chooses to go a different direction, you have authority to do that.”
Owle repeated an earlier move to table as amended, seconded by council member Adam Wachacha (Snowbird). Council member Lavita Hill (Big Cove) made a move to pass, seconded by council member Shennelle Feather (Yellowhill), who went on to explain her decision.
“To me, when we’re creating these types of places to trap animals that are sacred animals in our teachings and our understandings, then we’re breaking cultural laws,” she said.
The motion to table did not pass, and the subsequent motion to pass it prevailed. If all goes according to plan, by Sept. 1, 2028, no bears will be kept in captivity on the Qualla Boundary.
But before the vote, the father of Coggins’ lessor approached tribal council with a thinly veiled threat.
“You can’t shut [the bear zoo] down anyway because that’s my daughter’s property. I said that once, and I’ll say it again. If you do, there’ll be another lawsuit,” he said.