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Jodi Rave: Cobell trial ends after 10 days
Monday, October 29, 2007
Filed Under: Cobell

"The 11-year legal battle pitting a half-million American Indian landowners against the U.S. government has closed another chapter, but it isn't over yet.

A 10-day trial wrapped up Thursday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. Lawyers on both sides have 36 days to present written closing arguments to the newly appointed federal judge overseeing the case.

Elouise Cobell, a community development expert in Browning, filed the suit in 1996. She attended the proceedings this week where federal attorneys defended the government's handling of billions of dollars that never made it into the accounts of landowners who earned money from natural resources on 11 million acres of tribal land.

"Testimony here showed everything is on the honor system," Cobell said. "The way the systems are, anyone has a license to steal from IIM (Individual Indian Money) account holders because there's nothing in place."

After a century of undisputed mismanagement, witnesses and whistle-blowers stepped forward to testify that Indian landowners are still losers in a land management game where the U.S. Interior Department has been trying to explain, and fix, an accounting system operated with few checks and balances."

Get the Story:
Jodi Rave: Cobell, government to file closing remarks in lawsuit (The Missoulian 10/29)

Trial Order:
Cobell v. Kempthorne (April 20,2007)

Relevant Links:
Indian Trust: Cobell v. Kempthorne - http://www.indiantrust.com
Cobell v. Norton, Department of Justice - http://www.usdoj.gov/civil/cases/cobell/index.htm

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