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Judge to hear $3.4B Indian settlement case
Class Action |
2011/06/20 00:18
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A hearing is planned Monday on the fairness of a $3.4 billion settlement reached in a lawsuit that claimed the government mismanaged the accounts of hundreds of thousands of American Indian landowners.
The hearing in Washington, D.C., comes six months after lawmakers approved the settlement and a federal judge granted preliminary approval of the deal in December. The lead plaintiff in the 15-year-old class-action lawsuit is Elouise Cobell of Browning, Mont., a member of Montana's Blackfeet Tribe.
The lawsuit argues the Interior Department mishandled billions of dollars in royalties belonging to Indian account holders.
Potential beneficiaries were notified of the settlement and had until April 20 to opt out of the class-action lawsuit and start their own, or submit objections to the settlement.
The Billings Gazette reported that 92 objections were filed and 19 people have asked to speak at the hearing on Monday before U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan.
Some objections to the settlement concern the $223 million, plus $1.3 million in expenses, requested by attorneys. The attorneys in February said that Instead of being paid up to $99.9 million, as initially agreed, they deserved at least $224 million for their work on the case since 1996.
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Class action or a representative action is a form of lawsuit in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court and/or in which a class of defendants is being sued. This form of collective lawsuit originated in the United States and is still predominantly a U.S. phenomenon, at least the U.S. variant of it. In the United States federal courts, class actions are governed by Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule. Since 1938, many states have adopted rules similar to the FRCP. However, some states like California have civil procedure systems which deviate significantly from the federal rules; the California Codes provide for four separate types of class actions. As a result, there are two separate treatises devoted solely to the complex topic of California class actions. Some states, such as Virginia, do not provide for any class actions, while others, such as New York, limit the types of claims that may be brought as class actions. They can construct your law firm a brand new website, lawyer website templates and help you redesign your existing law firm site to secure your place in the internet. |
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