Aug 12, 2008 - 04:06:16 CDT
Elouise Cobell, the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against the Interior Department, on Friday said lawyers representing thousands of American Indian landowners will appeal a final ruling issued by a federal judge in a 12-year-long trust fund case.An appeal will filed "as soon as possible," said Cobell, adding that litigation unfairly put the burden of proof for financial mismanagement on Indian landholders instead of the Interior Department.
The decision to appeal comes in the wake of U.S. District Judge James Robertson's ruling on Thursday, providing a $455.6 million restitution settlement in Cobell vs. Kempthorne. Robertson referred to case law as grounds for his equitable settlement figures, calling for "accurate evaluations of difficult evidence," while not allowing a windfall for victims "or punishment for wrongdoers."
"In any situation, if there's been wrongdoing, shouldn't they be punished?" said Cobell.
Robertson presided over the Cobell restitution trial for nearly two weeks in June, during which time lawyers argued Indian landholders were owed as much as $48 billion.
"Expectations have been very high in Indian Country about this case for a long time," said John Dossett, an attorney representing the National Congress of American Indians, the largest and oldest Indian advocacy organization in the country. He described the judge's opinion as "disappointing" and "a blow" because of its narrow scope in determining how much money was owed to landowners.
Robertson only considered two basic questions, said Dossett. How much money was collected by the Interior Department's agencies, including the Bureau of Indian Affairs? And then, how much money should the department disburse to Indian account holders?
"The department is gratified that the court recognized the complexities and uncertainties involved in this case," said James E. Cason, associate deputy secretary of the Interior, in a statement. "We look forward to working with the court, the Congress and the plaintiffs to bring the case to final closure."
The department has been responsible for collecting and distributing money earned from natural resources on 11 million acres of land owned by Native Americans since Congress passed the Dawes Act in 1887. The income included grazing leases and sales from oil and timber.
"We always believed much more of the money was never collected in the first place," said Dossett. "And that's always been the biggest flaw in the BIA's system, is that they didn't have an accounts receivable system in which they were able to make collection efforts," if someone failed to pay. "Far more has never been collected than what was inaccurately distributed."
Accounting irregularities pushed Cobell to file a class-action suit in June 1996, now called Cobell vs. Kempthorne. In 1999, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth affirmed a 1994 trust reform law that required the Interior Department to properly account for all Individual Indian Money accounts.
The act - as well as dozens of government reports and court rulings - slammed the department for mismanaging Indian money and breaching its trust responsibility on 500,000 trust fund accounts worth billions of dollars.
Meanwhile, Robertson has brought a quick end to the 12-year-long case, which he has presided over since December 2006 when he replaced Lamberth. The D.C. Court of Appeals removed Lamberth from the Cobell suit after government lawyers complained that his court rulings were favorable to Indians.
When he took over the case, the Interior Department had been ordered to provide a complete accounting as mandated by the Trust Fund Management Reform Act of 1994. Robertson said his final ruling "no longer directly concerns the accounting question that dominated the first 12 years of its existence."
The judge has yet to determine how the $455.6 million restitution will be awarded. And his opinion also states the Cobell litigation does not resolve "any claims that IIM holders may have for damages against the government."
Dossett said those are two major questions that need to be answered.
"It's a horrendous slap in the face after 120 years of injustice to have this kind of ruling come down," said William Lomax, president of the Native American Finance Officers Association, or NAFOA, a financial management watchdog organization in Phoenix.
Lomax said he is encouraging tribal leaders to attend the NAFOA conference in Chicago Sept. 3-4, so they can continue to fight for accountability of Indian trust funds. He said tribal leaders will be asked to "step up" as the appeal process moves forward.
(Reach reporter Jodi Rave at 800-366-7186 or jodi.rave@;lee.net.)
bernice wrote on Nov 17, 2008 8:55 AM:
land owner wrote on Nov 2, 2008 2:45 PM:
Wanita Smith wrote on Oct 28, 2008 12:30 AM:
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