Says Litigation Has Strong Support Among Trust Beneficiaries
by James Louis LaRose
Named Plaintiff
Great Falls Tribune
Contrary to what Earl Old Person told your reporter, the four named plaintiffs in the long-running Cobell vs. Norton lawsuit are regularly consulted by the attorneys in the lawsuit. Three of the beneficiaries we represent recently testified in the most recent legal proceeding.
Elouise Cobell, the lead plaintiff is, as your article of Nov. 25 noted, “the public face” of the lawsuit. She, too, talks frequently with us about the progress of the lawsuit and our lawyers are always available for any beneficiary when we have questions about the legal issues. Our website, www.indiantrust.com, keeps us informed on our lawsuit on a daily basis.
As for Earl Old Person, he was removed by the court as a representative of 500,000 individual Indian trust beneficiaries on March 5, 2003. As a named plaintiff in a class action lawsuit, he was subject to being called during the litigation process to attend depositions or produce documents.
Unfortunately, Earl Old Person would not fulfill his responsibilities voluntarily. He did not respond to government discovery requests and came perilously close to being held in contempt. As a result, the district court found him ineligible to represent the beneficiaries and removed him as a named plaintiff. Today he holds the unique distinction of being the only beneficiary who represents himself in this long-running court case.
Our attorneys have continued to serve him with every single paper that’s been filed by plaintiffs, but he has not responded to any of the thousands of papers that have been served. He wouldn’t even respond to letters and faxes or return voicemail messages that were left by our attorneys seeking his opinion on matters.
Unlike Mr. Old Person, neither I nor Ms. Cobell have seen any drop in support for the lawsuit. In fact, at a recent appearance on the Navajo Reservation, hundreds of Indians filled a room to ask Ms. Cobell questions for hours about the lawsuit. Then they passed a hat to donate their own money to support the ongoing fight.
A couple of months ago, the largest national individual landowner association, the Indian Land Working Group, passed a resolution that affirmatively and unequivocally endorsing the case and our attorneys handling of it. Thus, the lawsuit finds wide support among the only people who really count – the 500,000 individual Indian trust beneficiaries.
What we are told repeatedly in our travels is that all Indian people want a fair resolution of this dispute – not simply a quick one that denies us all we have won in our nearly decade-long lawsuit.
As the appeals court said in its Nov. 15 ruling: “It is not disputed that the government failed to be a diligent trustee. In the two decades leading up to the plaintiffs’ initiation of their lawsuit, report after report excoriated the government’s management of the IIM (Individual Indian Money) trust funds.” Unfortunately, the government continues to fail Indian people.
What our lawyers have documented in more than 200 days of trial is example after example of how the government has continued to abuse, mistreat, lie to and trick Indian people out of their money. This is not something historical. It is going on today. It is why we will continue to fight the government until all beneficiaries receive an adequate accounting of their trust assets.
James Louis LaRose,
Named Plaintiff
Cobell vs. Norton
Winnebago Tribe, Nebraska
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