The American Indian Plaintiffs, in a long-running class action lawsuit against the federal government for mismanagement of the individual Indian trust, today announced a Settlement with the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Under the terms of the Settlement in Cobell v. Salazar, the federal government will create a $1.4 billion Trust Accounting and Administration Fund and a $2 billion Trust Land Consolidation Fund. The Settlement also creates a $60 million federal Indian Education Scholarship fund to improve access to higher education for Indian youth, and it includes a commitment by the federal government to appoint a commission that will oversee and monitor specific improvements in the Department's accounting for and management of individual Indian trust accounts and trust assets, going forward. This Settlement is believed to be the largest ever against the federal government and dwarfs the combined value of all judgments and Settlements of all Indian cases since the founding of this nation.

The legal team for the Plaintiffs is headed by Dennis M. Gingold, an attorney in private practice in Washington, D.C., with support from Keith M. Harper, Bill Dorris, David Smith, and Elliott Levitas, attorneys at Kilpatrick Stockton LLP.

Keith Harper is a partner in the Litigation department and heads the Native American Affairs practice group. In 2008, the National Law Journal selected Mr. Harper as one of 50 “Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America” (5/26/08)