{
  "id": "RL34628",
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      "id": 414502,
      "date": "2012-11-30",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-06T23:48:14.014018",
      "title": "The Indian Trust Fund Litigation: An Overview of Cobell v. Salazar",
      "summary": "The settlement reached in Cobell v. Salazar was authorized by the Claims Resolution Act of 2010 on December 8, 2010. Under the terms of the settlement, the United States government will pay $1.4 billion to members of the class who sought to have a historical accounting of their IIM accounts (an abbreviation for Individual Indian Monies). An additional $2 billion will be provided by the government for the purpose of consolidating fractionated trust and restricted lands. \nFirst filed in 1996, Cobell v. Salazar involved the Department of the Interior\u2019s (DOI\u2019s) management of several money accounts. These money accounts, or IIMs, as distinguished from tribal trust funds, are monies which the federal government holds for the benefit of individual Indians. The conflict in the case traced to the federal government\u2019s trust responsibility with respect to American Indians. In the capacity of trustee, the United States holds title to much of Indian tribal land and land allotted to individual Indians. Receipts from leases, timber sales, or mineral royalties are paid to the federal government for disbursement to the appropriate Indian property owners. The United States has fiduciary responsibilities to manage Indian monies and assets which have been derived from these lands and are held in trust. However, several of the beneficiaries of these trust funds alleged that DOI mismanaged these funds and filed suit in order to obtain a proper accounting of these funds and to receive damages if warranted.\nAfter more than a decade of litigation over obligations associated with the management of the IIM accounts\u2014consisting of over 3,600 documents and over 20 federal district court and court of appeals opinions\u2014the parties ultimately reached a settlement on December 7, 2009. However, the settlement, which by its terms would create a Trust Administration Fund and a Land Consolidation Fund, required congressional authorization before it could go into effect. A year later, Congress authorized the settlement through the Claims Resolution Act of 2010 (CRA), which was signed by President Obama on December 8, 2010.\nThe district court approved the settlement on July 27, 2011. After appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and petitions for certiorari to the Supreme Court were denied, the settlement became final on November 24, 2012.",
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    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc808432/",
      "id": "RL34628_2010Jul13",
      "date": "2010-07-13",
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      "title": "The Indian Trust Fund Litigation: An Overview of Cobell v. Salazar",
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    },
    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc816821/",
      "id": "RL34628_2008Aug20",
      "date": "2008-08-20",
      "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26",
      "title": "The Indian Trust Fund Litigation: An Overview of Cobell v. Kempthorne",
      "summary": null,
      "type": "CRS Report",
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  "topics": [
    "American Law"
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}