WASHINGTON – Under most circumstances a $455.6 million legal judgment to Indian plaintiffs would be seen as a step in the right direction, but, for the plaintiffs of the ongoing Cobell v. Kempthorne litigation, it signified another low-point in a year filled with ups and downs.
The case, which has gone through numerous appeals since it was first filed in 1996, involves approximately 500,000 American Indian plaintiffs who have made strong arguments that their trust assets have for decades been mismanaged by the federal government.
Things were looking up in January when a judge in the lawsuit over the Individual Indian Money trust denied a federal government request to delay litigation in 37 separate lawsuits over tribal trust funds.
By June, the legal argument phase over money owed in the case was in full swing. The initial moments of the latest iteration of the trial featured some favorable moments for the plaintiffs, who argued the government owed IIM beneficiaries $58 billion due to mismanaged accounting.
But then came a decision in August from U.S. District Judge James Robertson that IIM account holders deserved $455.6 million for 121 years of IIM trust mismanagement. The figure was less than the total amount spent by Congress and the federal government over the past decades trying to fix the IIM management system.
Robertson, in effect, accepted the government’s estimate that “no more than $455.6 million is missing from the stated balance of the IIM trust.”
“I am disappointed to say the least,” lead plaintiff Elouise Cobell said in a statement after the ruling. “We believe we presented a strong, compelling case that individual Indian trust beneficiaries are entitled to much more than the government’s admitted mismanagement of our trust monies over the past 120 years.”
After the ruling, W. Ron Allen, chairman of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, said he was stunned. But said he felt a general feeling in the air that it was time to move on. If, by moving on, Allen meant accepting the judgment, he was soon proven wrong.
Many in Indian country believed the judgment to be far too low, and that the case should be appealed. Cobell announced definitively in September that an appeal would go forward. That month, she wrote in an Indian Country Today editorial that the case was more than about money, and noted that she wanted to see an end result of a much stronger trust agreement between the federal government and Native people.
“As for the money, we intend to tell the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia that the judge was wrong here, too,” Cobell said. “Under trust law, we believe we’re entitled to interest on the $455.6 million. He gave us no interest, even though the trust laws make clear interest was to be paid Indians for all monies the government holds for them.”
Not only did the Indian plaintiffs decide to challenge the ruling, but so, too, did the federal government on partial grounds that Robertson took too lenient a view of the government’s fiduciary obligations as trustee of the IIM accounts.
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in November agreed to hear the plaintiffs’ appeal, but developments have been slow moving since then. Thus, in December, the plaintiffs asked a federal appeals court to speed up its review of their appeal.
“Time is of the essence as ‘innumerable’ elderly and infirm plaintiff-beneficiaries have died, and will continue to die, out of the certified class,” stated a motion for expedited appeal filed by the plaintiffs’ lawyers Dec. 9.
As of press time, no decision had been made as to when the new appeal case would be heard.
My mother never received any child support for my sister and I after my father was placed in a nursing home after his automobile accident -brain damaged and paralyzed. The BIA and the IIM department said that my mother could not get any monies from his (my father's) account, because it was to be used for him only. Only after my mother passed away, did they tell me she could have benefited from his account. I have more stories to tell but not enough room.
Monday, Feb 9 at 11:06 AM orrin.allen@nezperce systems.com wrote ...
I would like it very much,if such a good thing like that were to keep on going, no telling we might have some bucks coming our way, up here in Nezperce country.
If this lawsuit stays in court longer maybe by the time it gets to native people they will get gift card or $200.00 each ! thats the way it always goes in most instances tied up in white mans court. i think we figured that much out by now :)
This content requires the latest Adobe Flash Player and a browser with JavaScript enabled.
Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.
Tuesday, Nov 17 at 3:42 PM Anonymous wrote ...
My mother never received any child support for my sister and I after my father was placed in a nursing home after his automobile accident -brain damaged and paralyzed. The BIA and the IIM department said that my mother could not get any monies from his (my father's) account, because it was to be used for him only. Only after my mother passed away, did they tell me she could have benefited from his account. I have more stories to tell but not enough room.
32255296 Inappropriate? Alert Us!Friday, Feb 13 at 6:56 PM larry wrote ...
if it they keep going this way maybe we all may die be for they make a decision
16493317 Inappropriate? Alert Us!Monday, Feb 9 at 11:06 AM orrin.allen@nezperce systems.com wrote ...
I would like it very much,if such a good thing like that were to keep on going, no telling we might have some bucks coming our way, up here in Nezperce country.
16222574 Inappropriate? Alert Us!Sunday, Feb 8 at 8:42 AM mn indian wrote ...
If this lawsuit stays in court longer maybe by the time it gets to native people they will get gift card or $200.00 each ! thats the way it always goes in most instances tied up in white mans court. i think we figured that much out by now :)
16186874 Inappropriate? Alert Us!Add a comment
Most Popular