Mixed-blood Utes who were terminated by the federal government lost the right to challenge their status and cannot stake a claim in a $32 million trust fund, a federal judge ruled on Friday

In a 17-page decision [PDF], U.S. District Judge Richard Roberts said the Utes waited too long to file the lawsuit. He said they had until 1967 to challenge an Interior Department regulation, published in 1961, that terminated their rights.

And since they lost their tribal status, Roberts said the Utes could not share in a $32 million judgment fund awarded to the Ute Tribe by the Indian Claims Commission.

The mixed-blood Utes were terminated by an act of Congress in 1954. Full-blood Utes, defined as those with at least one-half Ute and over one-half "Indian" blood, remained members of the Ute Tribe under the act.

Get the Story:
Part-Ute plaintiffs' lawsuit is dismissed (The Salt Lake Tribune 1/30)

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