Washington, DC - After lengthy debate, members of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) passed a resolution at the conclusion of the organization’s Mid Year Conference reaffirming its position on reasonable lawyer fees associated with the Cobell v. Salazar Settlement Agreement. 

Days before a federal judge will begin hearing arguments on the fairness of the settlement, NCAI released the following statement:

“It’s time to move on and clear this final hurdle so that decades of litigation can finally turn into the corrective action that so many American Indians are waiting for. This resolution simply reaffirms the original position of NCAI’s membership and the view that the lawyer’s fees need to be reasonable. It was clear in our meetings this week that tribal leaders believe the court will make the right decision, and do so expeditiously. The resolution supports only ‘the view’ of current proposed legislation that the attorney’s fees should be capped at $50 million.”

The latest resolution passed at the 2011 NCAI Mid Year Conference referred to the previous resolution from a year ago: “At its 2010 Mid-Year Conference, the NCAI enacted Resolution #RAP-10-037, which desired to see a number of changes incorporated in the Cobell settlement agreement, including, “fairness in attorney fees and incentive payments to ensure that they do not unduly diminish the restitution to inpidual account holders.”

For more information download the resolutions here:

Resolution #MKE-11-019 - TITLE: Supporting the Native American Rights Fund’s Request for Attorney’s Fees and H.R. 887

Resolution #RAP-10-037 - TITLE: Supporting the Cobell v. Salazar Settlement and Requesting Additional Considerations