The Timbisha Shoshone Tribe of Nevada filed a lawsuit on Friday in hopes of stopping the distribution of a $185 million trust fund.

Congress passed a law in 2004 to distribute the money to individual Western Shoshones. The lawsuit says the money belongs to the tribe and to other Western Shoshone tribal governments.

"The Timbisha Shoshone, not Congress, should be the one to decide how the money is to be used," Robert T. Coulter, the executive director of the Indian Law Resource Center, said in a press release.

The money in the fund comes from an Indian Claims Commission award. In 1972, the ICC said the Western Shoshone Nation was owed money for the loss of lands that were promised by the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs is finalizing the list of Western Shoshones who are eligible for a share of the fund. The agency will hold two meetings in Nevada next month to help people sign up before an August 2 deadline.

Get the Story:
Tribe sues over cash payout plan (The Elko Daily Press 6/12)

Federal Register Notice:
Deadline for Submission of Applications To Be Included on the Roll of Western Shoshone Identifiable Group of Indians for Judgment Fund Distribution (May 20, 2010)

Western Shoshone Claims Distribution Act:
Bill Report | H.R.884 | S.618

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