Indian Trust Class Action Settlement

In December 2009, a $3.4 billion settlement was reached in a class action lawsuit accusing the U.S. government of mismanaging money owed to Native Americans under trust funds. According to the Indian Trust class action lawsuit, which is titled Cobell v. Salazar, this mismanagement has been occurring since the 1880s.

The Cobell v. Salazar settlement resolves claims that the federal government violated its trust duties to individual Indian trust beneficiaries. There are three categories of claims included in the class action settlement: Historical Accounting Claims, Fund Administration Claims, and Land Administration Claims.

The Historical Accounting Claims allege the federal government violated its trust duties by failing to provide proper historical accounting relating to Individual Indian Monies (IIM) accounts and other trust assets. Fund Administration Claims allege the U.S. government mismanaged individual trust funds, and the Land Administration Claims allege the U.S. government violated its trust responsibilities for management of land, oil, natural gas, mineral, timber, grazing and other resources.

The U.S. government denies the allegations and maintains that has no legal responsibility for the claims. However, it has agreed to settle the Indian Trust class action lawsuit after 14 years of litigation to offer compensation to Class Members, many of whom are elderly and dying.

The Cobell v. Salazar class action settlement was approved by Congress in 2010. An appeal was subsequently filed, but an appeals court rejected the appeal in May 2012. The first round of payments was distributed to more than 400,000 Class Members with known addresses in December 2012.

In 2014, settlement checks were mailed to 15,000 Native Americans from various tribal groups. However, many eligible Class Members have missing or incorrect contact information in the records furnished by the U.S. Department of the Interior and/or are listed as “whereabouts unknown.”

More than 30,000 individuals may qualify for settlement benefits from the Indian Trust class action settlement. To help the Settlement Administrator locate Class Members, you can use this map located on the settlement webpage.

Who’s Eligible

Class Members include individual Indian Trust beneficiaries who had an IIM account anytime from approximately 1985 through Sept. 30, 2009, or who had an individual interest in land held in trust or restricted status by the U.S. government as of Sept. 30, 2009.

NOTE: The estate of a deceased individual whose account was open or in probate status as of Sept. 30, 2009 is included. The Indian Trust settlement does not relate to certain historical claims or any future claims of Class Members. The class action settlement does not relate to claims tribes might have against the U.S. government.

Potential Award

The Indian Trust settlement will offer compensation for Historical Accounting Claims and Trust Administration Claims. $1.9 billion has also been set aside in a Trust Land Consolidation Fund to purchase “fractionated” individual Indian trust land (land sales are voluntary). $1.5 billion has been designated for direct payments to Class Members.

• Historical Accounting Class Members will receive $1,000.
• Trust Administration Class Members will receive a baseline payment of $500.
• The U.S. Department of the Interior will offer fair market value for fractionated trust land.

The Indian Trust class action settlement will also provide up to $60 million for an Indian Education Scholarship Fund.

Proof of Purchase

N/A

Update Your Contact Info

UPDATE YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION »

Claim Form Deadline

11/27/2017

Case Name

Elouis Pepion Cobell, et al. v. Ken Salazar, et al., Case No. 1:96-cv-01285, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

Final Hearing

6/20/2011

Settlement Website

www.IndianTrust.com

For additional information, please visit the following websites:

Department of Interior Cobell/Land Buy-Back 

Department of Interior Cobell FAQs

Claims Administrator

Indian Trust Settlement
c/o GCG
P.O. Box 9577
Dublin, OH 43017‑4877
1-800-961-6109
info@IndianTrust.com

Class Counsel

Elliott H. Levitas
Keith Harper
William Dorris
David Smith
William Austin
Adam Charnes
Justin Guilder
KILPATRICK TOWNSEND & STOCKTON LLP

Dennis Gingold
Thaddeus Holt

Defense Counsel

Thomas Perrilli
Associate Attorney General
Michael F. Hertz
Deputy Assistant Attorney General
J. Robert Kohn
Robert E. Kirschman, Jr.