From Wiki:
Cobell v. Salazar (previously Cobell v. Kempthorne and Cobell v. Norton and Cobell v. Babbitt) is a class-action lawsuit brought by Native American representatives against the United States government. The plaintiffs claim that the U.S. government has incorrectly accounted for Indian trust assets, which belong to individual Native Americans (as beneficial owners) but are managed by the Department of the Interior (as the legal owner and fiduciary trustee). The case was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The original complaint asserted claims for mismanagement of the trust assets; these were subsequently disallowed since such claims could only properly be asserted in the United States Court of Federal Claims.
The case is sometimes reported as the largest class-action lawsuit against the U.S. in history, but the basis for this claim is a matter of dispute. Plaintiffs contend that the number of class members is around 500,000, while defendants maintain it is closer to 250,000. The potential liability of the U.S. government in the case is also disputed: plaintiffs have suggested a figure as high as $176 billion, and defendants have suggested a number in the low millions, at most. In 2008, the district court awarded the plaintiffs $455.6 million, which both sides have appealed. Cobell v. Kempthorne, 569 F. Supp.2d 223, 226 (D.D.C. 2008).
On July 29, 2009, the D.C. Court of Appeals vacated the award and remanded the District Court's previous decision in Cobell XXI. See, Cobell v. Salazar (Cobell XXII), 573 F.3d 808 (D.C. Cir. 2009).
On December 8, 2009, a $3.4 billion settlement was announced.<1> $1.4 billion of the settlement is allocated to plaintiffs in the suit, and up to $2 billion is allocated for re-purchase of lands distributed under the Dawes Act. President Barack Obama signed legislation authorizing government funding of a final version of the $3.4 billion settlement in December 2010, raising the possibility of final closure after fourteen years of litigation. Judge Thomas Hogan will oversee a fairness hearing on the settlement in the spring of 2011.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobell_v._SalazarThe BIA as part of the DOI for many years managed the Indian Trust lands (Reservations and Allotments); now the management is carried out by the Tribes themselves and the "recognized" Tribes have a sovereign to sovereign relationship with the Federal Government and the BIA/DOI has less discretion.
When the BIA managed the Indian Trust Lands, the BIA sold natural resources (oil, minerals, timber, grazing, etc); allotted lands to Individual Indians (that could sell into Fee Simple title, and there were huge land scams), and "managed" the lands (sometimes into super fund environmental sites).
IMO, the $387 Billion estimate of economic damage is low. The $3.4 Billion settlement ($1.4 Billion cash and $2.0 Billion in land re-purchase) is way low. The land re-purchase will be land within Reservations acquired by fraud abeted by the BIA
but now held Fee Simple by various corporations or transfer of Fed public lands now managed by the DOI or USDA
Cobell v. Salazar is the sealing wax on any monetary claims the American Indian has against the Feds for what happened on or to Indian Trust lands while managed by the BIA and not the Tribes (as now) but when the BIA was fiduciary to the Tribes.
So the settlement of Cobell vs Salazar (which was really much older than 14 years, the class action has been 14 years) is rather hollow win in that the issue is settled but the damaged parties will receive less than $0.01 per $1.00 soon.
Some corporations will get to sell now unwanted real estate to the Feds for transfer to Indians.
There is more than a little (short-sighted) happiness in Indian country now over the settlement because the immediacy of money and land, not having a grasp of the big picture, and the Indian political class.
Also lawyers will continue to be happy.
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