Government owes American Indians $456 mln: judge

[UpInArms]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After 12 years of litigation, a federal judge rejected claims that the government owed American Indians $47 billion for mismanaging their money held in a special trust fund, but ruled they were owed less than 1 percent of the amount sought.

The U.S. Interior Department was sued for mishandling the revenue in the Indian trust fund going back to 1887. The trust includes 10 million acres of land owned by individual Indians and 46 million acres belonging to Indian tribes.

On this lands, the department manages more than 100,000 leases and the money they generate from mineral mining, oil and gas drilling, timber, livestock grazing, recreational and agricultural uses are deposited into the trust. That money is disbursed by the department to individuals and tribes.

U.S. District Court Judge Robertson ruled on Thursday that the model used to estimate how much money was withheld by the government was faulty because it "did not make use of the best available evidence and did not make fair or reasonable comparisons of data."

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN0832063920080808?sp=true

[Cal Carpenter]

1. All things considered I think the gov't owes them a lot more than that

Money can't buy back what they deserve... :(

[WriteDown]

2. Eh, they can keep their money....

Just approve the casino in the Catskills we've been waiting on and were promised. Hillary promised to fight for it. I'm waiting to see Obama's stance.

[msedano]

3. Judge to indians: Take Your Pick.

The only good indian is a poor indian.
The only good indian is a ripped-off indian who stays ripped off.
The only good indian is a gullible one who accepts what the Interior Department says. After all, if you can't trust the USGovernment, who can you trust?
And if you don't like it, go back where you came from.

Unitedstatesian Just Us.

mvs


recommended.

[dbonds]

4. Never trust the US Government when it comes to Native Americans.

I am embarrassed every time I think about what our history has been.

[mojowork_n]

5. This is a really horrible decision

Not only is the amount a pittance (1 %), the judge's ruling doesn't make it clear "how and to whom" the award should be disbursed....

Paving the way for further legal wrangling, and continued mismanagement of the funds in question.

More injury and insult, further compounding the many, original injustices perpetrated by the government.

http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2008/08/judge-awards-am.html

[defendandprotect]

6. Actually, I think we owe them "the land" --- and damages for what we've done to it -- !!!

[bluesmail]

7. The US is getting off cheap again. If I were an Indian

and was one of them to sign this agreement I would not. It's an insult of the first kind.

[noiretextatique]

8. i wish i could say this is unbelievable, but...

the judge takes the word of the agency being sued...that's beyond belief. then again, it's not. how horribly sad.

[doodadem]

9. Unconscionable

Two books cover the background on this stuff pretty well, "Stolen Continents" and "Black Hills/White Justice". Billions of dollars in profits have been made off of this land--I'm not talking about the pittance that the government have let the big cattle ranchers and mining companies have it for the past hundred years, I'm talking the fortunes that these people have made off of the land. Fortunes from which the people who actually own the land have not seen a dime, while their land is raped.

I will guarantee you, without even looking it up, that Judge Robertson is a goddamn Republican.

[happyslug]

10. Actual Opinion

https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?1996cv1285-3573

And the Judge made the following comment:

"This opinion –- indeed, this litigation –- neither deals with nor resolves any claims that IIM account holders may have for damages against the government. And it leaves for another day the question of how and to whom the award should be distributed."

In simple terms all the Judge ruled on was how much money involved NOT if the Federal Government is liable for damages do to lost money.

Further on the Judge ruled that he accepted the Government's use of Statistics, but then used a 99% confidence level to rule how much the Government owned the Indians:

"The 95 percent confidence interval is wide enough that it encompasses a zero difference between the calculated and stated balance of the trust, meaning that the current, stated balance could very well be exactly correct. Id. (“he values are spread so widely that you cannot reject
hypothesis that the data could be . . . consistent with the $423 million .”). But that variance cuts both ways:
At the 95 percent confidence interval, the histogram encompasses a shortfall between IIM receipts and IIM disbursements of up to $365.7 million. Tr. 970:25-971:6 (Scheuren); DX-464. The 99 percent confidence interval would accommodate a finding of a shortfall of up to $455.6 million."

Remember this case involves property held in Trust for the Indians, not lands sold by the Indians to the Federal Government or otherwise taken from the Indians by the Government. That is ALL that was in front of the Judge, and why he ruled the way he did. The Judge only ruled that the $455.6 million is the Maximum the Government owes the Indians on these Trust accounts.