Dear Reader: Here’s a quick rundown of the June 20 fairness hearing. It’s been a busy day here in Washington, D.C. I will be writing more on the settlement for High Country News. I will keep you posted. – Jodi Rave
WASHINGTON – A fellow Indian trust beneficiary and I arrived at the U.S. District Courthouse Monday morning to attend the fairness hearing regarding the $3.4 billion settlement in the long-running Cobell case. We were among the first to arrive in what would end up being a packed courtroom.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan directed people standing in the doorway into the jury box. As the seats filled, one person was conspicuously absent — Elouise Cobell, the lead plaintiff. The fairness hearing marked a significant milestone in the now 16-year lawsuit. By the end of a seven-hour hearing, Hogan approved the Claims Resolution Act signed into law by President Barack Obama in December 2010.
“After fifteen years of litigation, today’s decision marks another important step forward in the relationship between the federal government and Indian Country,” Obama said in a statement. “Resolving this dispute was a priority for my administration, and we will engage in government-to-government consultations with tribal nations regarding the land consolidation component of the settlement to ensure that this moves ahead at an appropriate pace and in an appropriate manner.”
Cobell, who recently completed chemotherapy, did not attend. She did, however, ask to read a statement on a courtroom speakerphone. The judge granted her wish.
“I wish I could be present at today’s fairness hearing so I could introduce myself and personally explain to you how important this settlement is to 500,000 individual Indian trust beneficiaries,” she said. “However, physically, I am unable to do so.” Her voice sounded notably weak compared to many of the vigorous testimonies she’s provided to the court since first filing her suit against the U.S. Interior Department in 1996. “I want to explain that few if any other legal cases in modern times have embodied the pain of so many people in Indian Country and also embodied the hopes of these people. The possibility of settling this century old injustice has provided hope for the future and a light on the horizon.”
The fairness hearing marked a day of objections from about a dozen people who asked to speak before the court. In all, 92 people objected from a class that represents upwards of 500,000 people. Lawyers for Cobell said 99.9 percent of Indian beneficiaries supported the case.
“For over 100 years, individual Indians have been victimized by the government’s gross mismanagement of the Individual Indian Trust and our trust assets, including the income earned on our trust lands. And, for the last 15 years, this court, alone, has held out hope for individual Indians. No other place and no other institution – not the executive branch nor, with some notable exceptions, did Congress provide such promise. Successive administrations stubbornly resisted and bitterly fought our efforts with everything it has.”
Hogan surprised many people in the courtroom by announcing his final decision on merits of the settlement. The case centers on the historical government mismanagement of American Indian royalties earned from oil, gas, timber and grazing leases. The Interior Department has been managing Indian land revenues for individual allottees since 1887 and earlier. In addition to approving the settlement, Hogan also ended debate over contested lawyer fees. He ruled lawyers representing Cobell should receive $99 million for their work which he praised. They had sought contingency based fees for as much as $223 million, but Hogan said mega-fund settlements should be decided on a different scale.
Dennis Gingold, lead lawyer for Native landowners, said the case wasn’t over yet because the case could possibly be appealed.
