Attorney: Melody
McCoy, Don
Wharton, David
Gover, Dawn
Baum, John
Echohawk
Case Update
NARF represents forty-two plaintiffs - - the Nez Perce Tribe; the Mescalero Apache Tribe; the Tule River Indian Tribe; the Hualapai Tribe; the Yakama Nation; the Klamath Tribes; the Yurok Tribe; the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribe; the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma; the Sac and Fox Nation; the Santee Sioux Tribe of Nebraska; the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska; Aleut Community of St. Paul island; Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians; Bois Forte Band of Chippewa; Cachil Dehe Band of Wintun Indians of Colusa Rancheria; Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes; Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians; Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians; Kaibab Paiute Tribe; Kenaitze Indian Tribe; Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas; Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Ojibwe; Lac Du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa; Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe; Minnesota Chippewa Tribe; Native Village of Atka; Noocksack Indian Tribe; Prairie Island Indian Community; Pueblo of Zia; Qawalangin Tribe; Rincon Luiseno Band of Indians; Samish Indian Nation; San Luis Rey Indian Water Authority; Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa; Shoalwater Bay Tribe; Skokomish Tribe; Spirit Lake Dakotah Nation; Spokane Tribe; Summit Lake Paiute Tribe; Tulalip Tribes; and, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, in an action in the federal district court for the District of Columbia seeking full and complete accountings of their trust funds. Such accountings never have been provided by the federal government which is the trustee for the funds.
Pending before the Court is the government's motion to dismiss the action for lack of jurisdiction, which the Tribes have opposed. A ruling on that is expected at any time.
During the Presidential campaign last year, candidate Barack Obama "committed to resolving equitably" all Indian trust fund mismanagement litigation against the federal government if he was elected President. We have been hoping that President Obama will live up to this campaign promise and begin settlement negotiations in this case and the other Indian trust fund mismanagement cases soon. On September 14, 2009, NARF's clients in this case, along with over fifty other tribes in litigation, wrote President Obama requesting a meeting to discuss settlement negotiations. We are awaiting a formal response to our letter.
Case web site
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