"An epic federal lawsuit challenging the incompetence and bureaucratic racism in the handling of Indian trust accounts by the U.S. government is finally over.

Credit the tenacity of Elouise Cobell, a Blackfoot woman from Montana, who became the public face and conscience of a class-action suit first filed in 1996.

Resolution came last week as Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan declared a $3.4 billion settlement reached with the federal government two years ago to be "fair, reasonable and adequate."

Only a relative handful of nearly 500,000 Native American claimants had objected to the final proposal."

Get the Story:
Editorial: Native Americans' victory, Cobell's triumph (The Seattle Times 6/25)

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Blog: Crime of the century with Indian trust fund management (6/22)
Judge approves $3.4B settlement in Cobell trust fund lawsuit (6/21)
Schedule for fairness hearing for Cobell trust fund settlement (6/20)
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