Justice as important as the money in Cobell case By WAYNE GREENE World Senior Writer Published: 6/20/2011 2:29 AM Last Modified: 6/20/2011 4:54 AM
A proposed $3.4 billion settlement of a 1996 class-action lawsuit would mean paydays - in some cases, huge ones - for half a million American Indians, including some 35,000 in Oklahoma. But not everyone is satisfied with the deal. Congress has already approved the settlement - the largest ever against the U.S. government - to resolve decades of mismanagement of American Indian assets, including land, oil, natural gas, timber and grazing. U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., has scheduled a fairness hearing over the proposed settlement Monday. Nineteen people are scheduled to speak against the plan. Ben Carnes, a Choctaw from Broken Bow, sold a lithograph by American Indian Movement leader Leonard Peltier and scraped together donations from Facebook friends to pay for his trip to Washington to speak against the settlement. Carnes said his main concern is that the settlement ignores those responsible for the asset mismanagement. "They want to throw some money at it and (have) everybody forget the main issue," Carnes said. "I was under the impression that we were pursuing justice, that we wanted to find out where the money went to." Carnes said he will ask Hogan to throw out the settlement and take a closer look at what happened to the assets over the decades. He also wants to end U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs control of the assets and grant Indians full sovereignty over their own property. Compared to those greater issues, the settlement money is nothing, he said "What's the market value of sovereignty? What's the price of that?" he said. "It's not just about the money. Money doesn't mean anything." Carnes said he doesn't have much hope for convincing the judge, but he plans to continue his fight to the Supreme Court before opting out of the settlement, if he has to. The Quapaw Nation also asked to be part of Monday's hearing, but won't be allowed to speak because the nation isn't due any money under the settlement, although many of its members are. "You would think a fairness hearing says that anybody that's interested ought to be able to be heard, but I guess the definition of fairness may be different," said Tulsa attorney John Williams, who is working with the tribe on the case. Some 1,065 Quapaws have asked to opt out of the settlement and the tribe asked the court for three more months to discuss the issue with its 3,500 members. The proposed settlement may sufficiently resolve issues for many Indians, but it is "grossly inadequate" to address the history of theft of mineral and agricultural wealth from Quapaws, tribal filings with the court say. Quapaw allotments in northeastern Oklahoma had an enormous amount of lead and zinc that were mined for decades by companies that contracted with the federal agencies that were supposed to be protecting Indian interests. Tribal members have filed a separate class action suit reflecting its claims, but the 1,065 who tried to opt out of the Cobell settlement through the tribe may be forced to accept at least part of the settlement - an issue that will probably lead to more litigation, Williams said. Steve Bruner, a member of the Creek National Council, has conditionally opted out of the settlement. In a letter to Judge Hogan, he strongly objects to the size of potential legal fees for the firm that brought the suit. The firm sent Bruner an estimate that his mother's estate would receive more than $127,000 under the settlement. But Bruner complained that he couldn't get a straight answer on how much money would go to the lawyers or how his family's claim would change if the legal fees were reduced. For Bruner, the money would settle years of government mismanagement of family oil royalties in Creek County. Originally, the firm told Congress they would limit their fees to no more than $99.9 million, but later asked Hogan to award $223 million, Bruner's letter says. The letter says he can't make an informed decision on whether to accept the potential settlement until he understands how high the fees are and how those fees affect the settlements to class members. Bruner said he hasn't gotten a response to his letter and doesn't know if he's considered a part of the class or not at this point. "It's the principle of the thing. When those lawyers say they're going to cap at x amount, then that's the way it should be. I don't appreciate them coming back and saying, 'We meant this; we didn't mean that.'" "What they're doing is they're dangling money in front of people's noses who don't have a lot, so they'd love to get $500 or $300. They'll be glad to get whatever," Bruner said. "It's not going to make or break me. I just object to the way it was done," he said. About the Cobell case Filed: 1996 by Elouise Cobell, a member of the Blackfeet tribe Allegation: Decades of mismanagement and theft of American Indian assets controlled by the U.S. government. Proposed settlement: $3.4 billion to be distributed to some 500,000 American Indians in the western half of the United States. Who's eligible: People with Individual Indian Money accounts with the federal government or people who own an interest in Indian land in trust or with restricted status. What they get: The smallest amount would be about $800, but some account holders will receive much, much more. How much the lawyers are getting: It's a contentious issue. The judge will set the attorneys' fees but the contingency fee with plaintiffs calls for 14.75 percent of a $1.5 billion portion of the settlement. What happens next: If U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., signs off on the proposed settlement, initial payments could go out this fall. Other payments would be distributed after the court is satisfied that most of the class members have been identified and their payments have been calculated. More litigation is likely from those who have opted out of the case or are dissatisfied with its results. For more information: tulsaworld.com/cobellsettlement Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=336&articleid=20110620_16_A1_Apropo653680&archive=yes [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:la...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/laamn@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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