With action from Congress not expected before Sunday, the deadline for a settlement in a long-running case on the misuse of Indian trust funds was extended until mid-April, a Justice Department spokeswoman confirmed to Main Justice.

“In order for the agreement to remain valid after its existing February 28, 2010 legislative enactment deadline, the parties have agreed to extend that deadline through Friday, April 16, 2010,” DOJ spokeswoman Melissa Schwartz said.

The parties announced on Dec. 8 that they had reached a settlement in Cobell v. Salazar, a lawsuit that accused the Interior Department of  mishandling funds in trust funds that belong to individual American Indians.

One of the largest class action lawsuits against the U.S. government, the case was originally filed in 1996 by Elouise Cobell on behalf of more than 300,000 American Indians holding individual 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.

Because Congress will not pass the required legislation before Sunday, the deadline was extended once again.

In late January, both sides were hopeful they could meet the deadline, but left open the option of extending it if Congress was unable to reach the deadline.

Keith Harper (Kilpatrick Stockton).

“We’re certainly hopeful that we will get passage of that,” Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli told Main Justice in late January. “I don’t have any specifics. But we remain hopeful that it’s going to get passed.”

Keith Harper, a Kilpatrick Stockton lawyer representing Cobell, told Main Justice in late January that the settlement did not have any serious opposition.

“The holdup doesn’t have anything to do with our particular legislation,” said Harper. “Both sides have been supportive of this resolution.”

‘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.”

Harper was not immediately available to comment on the latest extension.

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.”

Elousise Cobell (photo by Ryan J. Reilly / Main Justice).

UPDATE: The deadline has been extended until Feb. 28, writes BLT. No other conditions of the settlement changed according to Cobell lawyer Keith Harper, who signed the agreement with the Justice Department Tuesday afternoon.

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Lawyers representing Elouise Cobell, the main plaintiff in the long-running Indian trust litigation, are in discussions with the government about possibly extending Thursday’s deadline to finalize a settlement agreement that required action from Congress.

The settlement reached earlier this month required Congress to pass legislation authorizing payment to the plaintiffs by Dec. 31. Congress did not take action before adjourning for its holiday break.

Keith Harper, one of the lawyers for Cobell, confirmed ongoing discussions to the Blog of Legal Times.

The settlement of the case, Cobell v. Salazar, was announced at a press conference at the Department of the Interior on Dec. 8, and was discussed before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee on Dec. 17.

Thomas Perrelli (file photo by Ryan J. Reilly / Main Justice).

“[T]he litigation has drained federal resources from Indian Country, and has created a poisonous atmosphere for the administration of the federal government’s trust responsibilities in Indian Country,” said Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli in testimony before the Senate Indian Affairs panel.

“Throughout our discussions with the plaintiffs, we have been guided by two principles,” said Perrelli. “First, we wanted true peace for the parties. We wanted to turn the page on history. The resolution of the accounting and trust administration pieces of this litigation will do that.”

Cobell v. Salazar was one of the largest class actions ever filed against the U.S. government. The lawsuit, originally filed in 1996, was brought by Cobell on behalf of more than 300,000 Native Americans holding individual Indian money accounts.

If approved and funded by Congress, the $3.4 billion settlement agreement includes $1.4 billion that would be distributed to class members to compensate them for their historic accounting claims and to resolve potential claims that prior U.S. officials mismanaged the administration of trust assets, according to the Justice Department.

The other $2 billion would go to establish a land consolidation program to provide individual Indians with an opportunity to obtain cash payments for divided land interests and free up the land for the benefit of tribal communities. The allegations of mismanagement went all the way back to 1887.

“What we’ve long thought was needed was leadership on the other side,” Harper told Main Justice earlier this month. “For people to recognize that we could litigate forever on both sides, but it’s far better to resolve the case and try to build a foundation upon which there can a more healthy and trusting relationship.”

“You have a president now who has committed to that and made very clear that this was one of his priorities, you have a secretary of the Interior who has made it one of his priorities,” said Harper.

“Trying to judge whether something will get through Congress is challenging,” said Harper earlier this month. “Would I be shocked if it didn’t? No, but that’s just the way this town works, but it’s just hard to predict with any precision, but I’m optimistic.”

View video from the Dec. 8 press conference below: