Snatched from alt.native
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From sonyarado@aol.com Thu Feb 06 17:29:01 1997
Newsgroups: apc.indig.info,soc.culture.native,alt.native
Subject: Indians Achieve Landmark Decision in Federal Court
From: sonyarado@aol.com
Date: Thu, 6 Feb 1997 22:29:01 GMT
NATIVE AMERICAN RIGHTS FUND
1506 Broadway, Boulder, CO  80302
MEDIA ALERT:  For Immediate Release, February 6, 1997
CONTACTS:  Jim McCarthy (202) 333-8810 and Keith Harper (202) 785-4166
INDIANS ACHIEVE LANDMARK DECISION IN FEDERAL COURT
- Judge Makes Watershed Ruling for Class Certification -
- Government Suffers Major Legal Setback Despite Vigorous Opposition in
Breach of Trust Case -
WASHINGTON, DC - In a first-of-its-kind ruling, a federal judge has decided
to grant certification to a class of more than 300,000 individual Indian
account holders suing the federal government for gross mismanagement of the
Indians' multibillion dollar trust fund.  The suit now becomes the largest
ever brought against the government for financial mismanagement and the
broadest such effort by American Indians.
Class certification guarantees that past and present IIM account holders will
be able to pursue in court, for the first time:
- A full accounting of the trust funds
- The establishment of new management systems that live up to standard
accounting requirements
- Full restitution for all monies lost or stolen over the entire term of the
160-year old trust
"This is an historic accomplishment for Indian Country," said John E.
Echohawk, Executive Director of the Native American Rights Fund.  "We stand
poised now to force the government to honor its legal obligation to manage
our critical trust fund prudently.  Century-old excuses and stonewalling have
been rejected by the judge and will simply no longer work."
Attorneys representing all individual Indian trust beneficiaries vowed to
continue litigating this case vigorously despite relentless efforts by
government lawyers to shield the Secretaries of Interior and Treasury from
accountability to their trust beneficiaries.
"The government fought tooth and nail to prevent class certification," said
Elouise Cobell, the lead plaintiff.  "That's because now that the court has
affirmed us, we will be able to prove how irresponsible and damaging their
handling of our money has been."
The Department of Interior and Treasury are obligated to hold and reinvest
individual Indian trust monies for account holders - revenue derived from
oil, gas, timber and other leases.  But Interior lacks even a basic
accounting and accounts receivable system and perhaps tens of billions of
dollars are missing or uncollected.
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:-)
jB-)
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