Cobell v. Norton News

From the Billings Gazette: "The Interior Department was ordered Tuesday - by a judge who called it a "pathetic outpost" - to admit it can't provide accurate information about lost royalties owed to American Indians.

"In a scathing condemnation of the government's treatment of American Indians, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth directed the department to enclose notices in its correspondence saying information provided on trust assets may not be credible.

"The notices also are meant to alert people that they may be members of the class action lawsuit brought by lead plaintiff Eloise Cobell in 1996 on behalf of more than 300,000 American Indians."

For more details, read the opinion and court order issued by Judge Royce C. Lamberth on July 12, 2005.

Memorandum opinion

Court order

Other references in this blog to Cobell v. Norton appear on June 21, 2005, February 24, 2005, and December 11, 2004.

Source: "District judge calls Interior 'pathetic'." Missoulian July 13, 2005. A1.
"Interior's handling of Indian royalties rebuked." Billings Gazette July 13, 2005.