Cobell v. Norton: Court Approves Notices, Cautions Others Who Would Surrender Their Welfare to the US Government
We are pleased to announce that, on October 22, 2004, Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the U.S. District Court in Washington, DC, ordered the following Notices be sent to Individual Indian Trust beneficiaries regarding their rights in the historic Cobell v. Norton litigation. In ordering defendants to distribute the notices, the Court made important additional findings:
* * * * *
To say that Interior has not “prioritized” its duties as Trustee-Delegate for the IIM trust would be an understatement. As this Court and the Court of Appeals have noted, “[t]he Interior Department has failed to discharge the fiduciary duties it owes to IIM beneficiaries for decades.” Cobell v. Norton, 240 F.3d 1081, 1110 (D.C. Cir. 2001).
Again, it is certain that the plaintiffs’ allegations are neither utterly devoid of an evidentiary basis nor utterly impossible to support with admissible evidence. . . . Any evidence in addition to the above documenting breaches of trust, breaches of fiduciary duties, violations of court orders, frauds on or misrepresentation to the Court, or other misconduct by Interior or defense counsel that is related to the management of the IIM trust or to the conduct of this litigation would be both directly relevant and almost certainly admissible. . . . The above-mentioned instances of Interior’s negligence and questionable practices are but a few bricks in a wall of administrative bungling, recalcitrance, and dereliction of duty stretching back more than a century and adversely affecting 500,000 or more of the most historically oppressed, marginalized, and dispossessed people in the United States. The assertion that the plaintiffs’ allegations of misconduct by Interior are “groundless,” “baseless,” or “excessive” is as laughable as it is disturbing. If Interior remains unable to recognize its own sordid history of mismanagement and neglect, then that history will likely continue to be repeated until there is no trust left to manage.
For the sake of the beneficiaries, the survivors of the “contentious and tragic” history of federal-Indian relations, Cobell, 240 F.3d at 1086, this Court cannot allow Interior to erase all reference to its misdeeds, both past and present, from the record in this case. However, even if Interior were to succeed in “sanitiz[ing]” the plaintiffs’ pleadings, Def.’s Mot. to Strike at 5, by deleting all charges of misconduct, nothing can remove the stain of Interior’s actions from the record in this case. The factual record herein will likely stand for generations as a cautionary tale for those who would unquestioningly surrender their welfare, or the welfare of others, to the care of the administrative state.
* * * * *
The specific Notices that the Court has ordered are as follows:
1. To all beneficiaries who recently were recently mailed a “historical” statement of account, the Court has ordered the following Notice be mailed:
Please be aware that many Individual Indian Money (“IIM”) account holders are members of a class action lawsuit, Cobell v. Norton, No. 1:96CVo1285 (D.D.C.) (Judge Lamberth). In October 2002 the above-referenced IIM account holder received a historical statement of account, along with a cover letter notifying the account holder of the action they should take if they wanted to challenge the accuracy of that statement. Nothing in this notice, the notice, historical statement of account and other documents the above-referenced IIM account holder received in October 2002, or any other letter, document, or communication to which this notice may be attached will eliminate or adversely affect any rights that the above-referenced IIM account holder may have if he or she is a class member in the Cobell litigation. The abovereferenced IIM account holder will not eliminate or adversely affect any rights that he or she may have as a class member by failing to challenge the historical statement of account he or she received in October 2002.
As a potential class member, the above-referenced IIM account holder has the right to consult with the class counsel in the Cobell litigation about the historical statement of account he or she received in October 2002 or any other matter. For further information you may contact the lawyers for the class members: Dennis M. Gingold, Esq., 607 14th Street, N.W., 9th Floor, Washington, DC 20005, phone: (202) 824-1448, fax: (202) 318-2372, email: dennismgingold@aol.com, or Keith Harper, Esq., Native American Rights Fund, 1712 N Street N.W., Washington, DC 20036-2976, phone: (202) 7854166, fax: (202) 822-0068, email: harper@narf.org. You may also access further information at the plaintiffs’ website, http://www.indiantrust.com .
2. If you have not yet received a “historical” statement of account, when you do receive one, it will contain the following notice:
Please be aware that the Individual Indian Money (“IIM”) account holder for whom the historical statement of account to which this notice is attached was prepared may be a member of a class action lawsuit, Cobell v. Norton, No. 1:96CVo1285 (D.D.C.) (Judge Lamberth). Nothing in this notice, the attached historical statement of account, or any letter, document, or other communication to which this notice may be attached will eliminate or adversely affect any rights that the IIM account holder for whom the attached historical statement of account was prepared may have if he or she is a class member in the Cobell litigation. The IIM account holder for whom the attached historical statement of account was prepared will not eliminate or adversely affect any rights that he or she may have as a class member by failing to challenge the attached historical statement of account.
As a potential class member, the IIM account holder for whom the attached historical statement of account was prepared has the right to consult with the class counsel in the Cobell litigation about this historical statement of account or any other matter. For further information you may contact the lawyers for the class members: Dennis M. Gingold, Esq., 607 14th Street, N.W., 9th Floor, Washington, DC 20005, phone: (202) 824-1448, fax: (202) 318-2372, email: dennismgingold@aol.com, or Keith Harper, Esq., Native American Rights Fund, 1712 N Street N.W., Washington, DC 20036-2976, phone: (202) 7854166, fax: (202) 822-0068, email: harper@narf.org. You may also access further information at the plaintiffs’ website, http://www.indiantrust.com .
3. If you are attempting to sell, transfer or convert your land, you will receive the following notice:
Please be aware that the Indian trust land owner to whom the communications or documents to which this notice is attached were directed may be a member of a class action lawsuit, Cobell v. Norton, No. 1:96CVo1285 (D.D.C.) (Judge Lamberth). Nothing in this notice or any letter, document, or other communication to which this notice may be attached will eliminate or adversely affect any rights that the Indian trust land owner who received this notice may have if he or she is a class member in the Cobell litigation. The Indian trust land owner who received this notice will not eliminate or adversely affect any rights that he or she may have as a class member by entering into any transaction or communication with any other person or organization, including the Department of the Interior or the Bureau of Indian Affairs, related to the sale, exchange, transfer, or conversion of Indian trust land.
As a potential class member, the Indian trust land owner who received this notice has the right to consult with the class counsel in the Cobell litigation prior to any proceeding with any further communication or transaction. For further information you may contact the lawyers for the class members: Dennis M. Gingold, Esq., 607 14th Street, N.W., 9th Floor, Washington, DC 20005, phone: (202) 824-1448, fax: (202) 318-2372, email: dennismgingold@aol.com, or Keith Harper, Esq., Native American Rights Fund, 1712 N Street N.W., Washington, DC 20036-2976, phone: (202) 785-4166, fax: (202) 822-0068, email: harper@narf.org. You may also access further information at the plaintiffs’ website, http://www.indiantrust.com .
The Indian trust land owner who received this notice may also choose to waive his or her right to consult with class counsel. If the Indian trust land owner who received this notice wishes to do so, he or she must mark the blank below, sign, and return this notice to the Bureau of Indian Affairs office from which you received it within ten (10) days. Waiver of the right to consult with class counsel will not eliminate or adversely affect any rights that the Indian trust land owner who received this notice may have as a class member in the Cobell litigation.
_____ I, the undersigned, hereby waive my right to consult with class counsel in the Cobell litigation before continuing with communications or transactions involving or resulting in the sale, exchange, transfer, or conversion of Indian trust land.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To view the latest information concerning this case, go to http://www.indiantrust.com
Indian Trust http://www.indiantrust.com
For background information, please also see the Indian Trust series
in our International Law section.
We are pleased to announce that, on October 22, 2004, Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the U.S. District Court in Washington, DC, ordered the following Notices be sent to Individual Indian Trust beneficiaries regarding their rights in the historic Cobell v. Norton litigation. In ordering defendants to distribute the notices, the Court made important additional findings:
* * * * *
To say that Interior has not “prioritized” its duties as Trustee-Delegate for the IIM trust would be an understatement. As this Court and the Court of Appeals have noted, “[t]he Interior Department has failed to discharge the fiduciary duties it owes to IIM beneficiaries for decades.” Cobell v. Norton, 240 F.3d 1081, 1110 (D.C. Cir. 2001).
Again, it is certain that the plaintiffs’ allegations are neither utterly devoid of an evidentiary basis nor utterly impossible to support with admissible evidence. . . . Any evidence in addition to the above documenting breaches of trust, breaches of fiduciary duties, violations of court orders, frauds on or misrepresentation to the Court, or other misconduct by Interior or defense counsel that is related to the management of the IIM trust or to the conduct of this litigation would be both directly relevant and almost certainly admissible. . . . The above-mentioned instances of Interior’s negligence and questionable practices are but a few bricks in a wall of administrative bungling, recalcitrance, and dereliction of duty stretching back more than a century and adversely affecting 500,000 or more of the most historically oppressed, marginalized, and dispossessed people in the United States. The assertion that the plaintiffs’ allegations of misconduct by Interior are “groundless,” “baseless,” or “excessive” is as laughable as it is disturbing. If Interior remains unable to recognize its own sordid history of mismanagement and neglect, then that history will likely continue to be repeated until there is no trust left to manage.
For the sake of the beneficiaries, the survivors of the “contentious and tragic” history of federal-Indian relations, Cobell, 240 F.3d at 1086, this Court cannot allow Interior to erase all reference to its misdeeds, both past and present, from the record in this case. However, even if Interior were to succeed in “sanitiz[ing]” the plaintiffs’ pleadings, Def.’s Mot. to Strike at 5, by deleting all charges of misconduct, nothing can remove the stain of Interior’s actions from the record in this case. The factual record herein will likely stand for generations as a cautionary tale for those who would unquestioningly surrender their welfare, or the welfare of others, to the care of the administrative state.
* * * * *
The specific Notices that the Court has ordered are as follows:
1. To all beneficiaries who recently were recently mailed a “historical” statement of account, the Court has ordered the following Notice be mailed:
Please be aware that many Individual Indian Money (“IIM”) account holders are members of a class action lawsuit, Cobell v. Norton, No. 1:96CVo1285 (D.D.C.) (Judge Lamberth). In October 2002 the above-referenced IIM account holder received a historical statement of account, along with a cover letter notifying the account holder of the action they should take if they wanted to challenge the accuracy of that statement. Nothing in this notice, the notice, historical statement of account and other documents the above-referenced IIM account holder received in October 2002, or any other letter, document, or communication to which this notice may be attached will eliminate or adversely affect any rights that the above-referenced IIM account holder may have if he or she is a class member in the Cobell litigation. The abovereferenced IIM account holder will not eliminate or adversely affect any rights that he or she may have as a class member by failing to challenge the historical statement of account he or she received in October 2002.
As a potential class member, the above-referenced IIM account holder has the right to consult with the class counsel in the Cobell litigation about the historical statement of account he or she received in October 2002 or any other matter. For further information you may contact the lawyers for the class members: Dennis M. Gingold, Esq., 607 14th Street, N.W., 9th Floor, Washington, DC 20005, phone: (202) 824-1448, fax: (202) 318-2372, email: dennismgingold@aol.com, or Keith Harper, Esq., Native American Rights Fund, 1712 N Street N.W., Washington, DC 20036-2976, phone: (202) 7854166, fax: (202) 822-0068, email: harper@narf.org. You may also access further information at the plaintiffs’ website, http://www.indiantrust.com .
2. If you have not yet received a “historical” statement of account, when you do receive one, it will contain the following notice:
Please be aware that the Individual Indian Money (“IIM”) account holder for whom the historical statement of account to which this notice is attached was prepared may be a member of a class action lawsuit, Cobell v. Norton, No. 1:96CVo1285 (D.D.C.) (Judge Lamberth). Nothing in this notice, the attached historical statement of account, or any letter, document, or other communication to which this notice may be attached will eliminate or adversely affect any rights that the IIM account holder for whom the attached historical statement of account was prepared may have if he or she is a class member in the Cobell litigation. The IIM account holder for whom the attached historical statement of account was prepared will not eliminate or adversely affect any rights that he or she may have as a class member by failing to challenge the attached historical statement of account.
As a potential class member, the IIM account holder for whom the attached historical statement of account was prepared has the right to consult with the class counsel in the Cobell litigation about this historical statement of account or any other matter. For further information you may contact the lawyers for the class members: Dennis M. Gingold, Esq., 607 14th Street, N.W., 9th Floor, Washington, DC 20005, phone: (202) 824-1448, fax: (202) 318-2372, email: dennismgingold@aol.com, or Keith Harper, Esq., Native American Rights Fund, 1712 N Street N.W., Washington, DC 20036-2976, phone: (202) 7854166, fax: (202) 822-0068, email: harper@narf.org. You may also access further information at the plaintiffs’ website, http://www.indiantrust.com .
3. If you are attempting to sell, transfer or convert your land, you will receive the following notice:
Please be aware that the Indian trust land owner to whom the communications or documents to which this notice is attached were directed may be a member of a class action lawsuit, Cobell v. Norton, No. 1:96CVo1285 (D.D.C.) (Judge Lamberth). Nothing in this notice or any letter, document, or other communication to which this notice may be attached will eliminate or adversely affect any rights that the Indian trust land owner who received this notice may have if he or she is a class member in the Cobell litigation. The Indian trust land owner who received this notice will not eliminate or adversely affect any rights that he or she may have as a class member by entering into any transaction or communication with any other person or organization, including the Department of the Interior or the Bureau of Indian Affairs, related to the sale, exchange, transfer, or conversion of Indian trust land.
As a potential class member, the Indian trust land owner who received this notice has the right to consult with the class counsel in the Cobell litigation prior to any proceeding with any further communication or transaction. For further information you may contact the lawyers for the class members: Dennis M. Gingold, Esq., 607 14th Street, N.W., 9th Floor, Washington, DC 20005, phone: (202) 824-1448, fax: (202) 318-2372, email: dennismgingold@aol.com, or Keith Harper, Esq., Native American Rights Fund, 1712 N Street N.W., Washington, DC 20036-2976, phone: (202) 785-4166, fax: (202) 822-0068, email: harper@narf.org. You may also access further information at the plaintiffs’ website, http://www.indiantrust.com .
The Indian trust land owner who received this notice may also choose to waive his or her right to consult with class counsel. If the Indian trust land owner who received this notice wishes to do so, he or she must mark the blank below, sign, and return this notice to the Bureau of Indian Affairs office from which you received it within ten (10) days. Waiver of the right to consult with class counsel will not eliminate or adversely affect any rights that the Indian trust land owner who received this notice may have as a class member in the Cobell litigation.
_____ I, the undersigned, hereby waive my right to consult with class counsel in the Cobell litigation before continuing with communications or transactions involving or resulting in the sale, exchange, transfer, or conversion of Indian trust land.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To view the latest information concerning this case, go to http://www.indiantrust.com
Indian Trust http://www.indiantrust.com
For background information, please also see the Indian Trust series
in our International Law section.