Officials of a sovereign Native American nation can be sued in New York state courts for off-reservation actions, a panel of Brooklyn judges ruled Wednesday.

In a 3-1 decisionThe Second Appellate Department of the New York Supreme Court rejected the Shinnecock Indian Nation’s argument that any state lawsuits against Native American officials for violations of state law should not be brought only in federal courts.

Shinnecock Nation officials argued that federal courts would be a neutral forum to arbitrate a dispute between the state and the tribe, but Associate Judge Francesca Connolly said that was…