by Ron Jackson
The Oklahoman
BOONE – A Washington attorney Monday told nearly 100 beneficiaries of American Indian trust land that they will win an eight-year-old class action lawsuit against the U.S. government.
“We will win this case,” said Keith Harper, whose Native American Rights Fund is representing more than 500,000 Indian trust land beneficiaries nationwide. “We have the facts and the law on our side, and that’s everything.”
The lawsuit, commonly known as the Cobell case after lead plaintiff Elouise Cobell, a member of the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana, was filed in federal court in 1996 seeking two basic remedies: an accounting for individual trust accounts and reform of the government’s management of the accounts.
Congress established the accounts in 1887, and the largest number holds the proceeds from mineral and grazing leases on land owned by Indians. Congress, accountants and the federal judge presiding over the lawsuit agree that the accounts have been mismanaged and there’s no telling how much money Indians have lost.
Most recently, U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lambreth in the District of Columbia granted a temporary restraining order Aug. 31 to halt a Department of the Interior sale of Indian trust land.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs issued an invitation for bids for the sale of Indian-owned land July 30 and set a Sept. 1 deadline for bids. Locally, 25 parcels of land were to be sold in the agency’s Anadarko region, some with oil and gas rights attached.
Harper claims those land owners were never properly notified about the sale.
“This is blatant mismanagement of a trust,” Harper told attendees. “This is the type of system that has literally sucked the lifeblood out of Indian Country for the past century. A trustee is supposed to inform you.
“It’s your land.”
The order, which expires Wednesday, could be replaced by a preliminary injunction, Harper said. In that case, the plaintiffs would again prevail in temporarily staving off the sale of their land. Or the judge could allow the sale of land to proceed a situation that would likely raise the stakes in the lawsuit.
Either way Harper promised his six-member legal team would continue to fight for a systematic accounting of Indian trust land, a correction of any accounting mistakes dating back to 1887, and an overhaul of a system he calls “severely broken.”
“Finally, we are having our interest addressed,” said Emily Saupitty, an Apache tribal member and trust land beneficiary. “We’re having our inheritance, at least, questioned. I feel like our call for help has been heard.
“You know, this is something my mother began fighting for back in 1965.”
Many of those in attendance claimed they never received a proper accounting for their oil and gas leases, and therefore question whether they have been fairly represented by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
“I don’t think the government is going to repay us for all those years of mismanagement,” said Austin Klinekole, an Apache tribal member and trust land beneficiary. “That’s why I think the government will ultimately agree to a lesser settlement, but that could take years of litigation.
“It already has.”
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