A top Justice Department official and a lawyer representing hundreds of thousands of Native Americans in a long-running class action lawsuit say they are hopeful that Congress will be able to pass the required legislation to move the settlement forward before next month’s deadline.
The parties announced on Dec. 8 that they had reached a settlement in Cobell v. Salazar, in which the Interior Department was accused of mishandling funds in Indian trust funds which belong to individual Native Americans.
One of the largest class actions ever filed against the U.S. government, it was originally filed in 1996, by Elouise Cobell on behalf of more than 300,000 Native Americans holding individual Indian money accounts. In the waning days of 2009, both parties agreed to extend the year-end deadline for final resolution of the settlement to Feb. 28, 2010.
“We’re certainly hopeful that we will get passage of that,” Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli told Main Justice on Thursday. “I don’t have any specifics. But we remain hopeful that it’s going to get passed.”
Keith Harper (kilpatrickstockton.com).
Keith Harper, a Kilpatrick Stockton lawyer representing Cobell, told Main Justice that he is “still cautiously optimistic despite the gridlock on Capitol Hill.” Harper said his firm continues to work on figuring out ways to notify the plaintiffs so that they will be “ready to go” when the legislation is passed.
“The holdup doesn’t have anything to do with our particular legislation,” said Harper. “A lot is happening on the Hill, but I don’t have a sense of any serious opposition. Both sides have been supportive of this resolution.”
Asked about the possibility of extending the Feb. 28 deadline, Harper said they would “cross that bridge when we get to it.”
‘There are a lot of moving parts, but both sides agree that this is the right thing to do,” said Harper. “Whether we can continue to extend the deadline is another question, but right now all energies are focused and we’re feeling very good.”
Lets’ hope for the best, but expect the worse…which could mean another extension of this class action case. I am one of many that is ready and willing to accept whatever I can get at this stage of my life.
what happened to the no less than 30 billion that was said and now we have expect change while you and lawyers will receive how much?