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July 27, 2009

Court Demands Accounting for Indian Trusts
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A federal appeals court has reversed a lower court’s decision and ruled
that the Interior Department must fully account for more than a
century’s worth of land royalties owed to Native Americans. The ruling
comes thirteen years after 500,000 Native plaintiffs filed a lawsuit in
federal court to collect the $47 billion in royalties they say the
federal government owes them for its use of their lands since 1887. An
earlier decision by a district court judge stated that accounting for
the land royalties would be impossible and awarded the plaintiffs $455
million.



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