A New Mexico Federal Judge has approved almost $1 billion settlement between the Obama Administration and Native American Tribes. The approval was given five months after the US Interior Department and Tribal leaders confirmed that they have agreed on a $940 million settlement.
The tribes took to court claiming that the US government has underfunded contract costs for federal services such as education, law enforcement, and others. They claimed that the underfunded contracts from the US government has begun from way back in 1970.
According to New York Times, a judge in Albuquerque has approved the agreement. Almost 700 tribes and tribal agencies are expected to receive compensation of different amounts ranging from $8,000 for some Alaska Native villages to $58 million for the Navajo Nation.
As reported by ABC News, a lawsuit was first filed by Ramah Navajo Chapter in 1990 and became the case' lead plaintiff along with South Dakota's Oglala Sioux Tribe and Zuni Pueblo. The case moved forward in 2012 when the US Supreme Court sided with the tribes and brought the case back to the lower courts.
The agreement between the government and the tribes also included $1.2 million for the reimbursement of cash that was incurred by the plaintiff, as per Jurist. The attorneys in the case are also expected to get 8.5 percent of the total amount of the settlement.
"The end result was there were no objections to the settlement and no objections to the fee request," the tribes' attorney, Michael Gross stated. "This showed a unity among Indian tribes that is absolutely astounding."
The settlement is the latest agreements between US Interior Department and the tribes. The former previously agreed to pay $3.4 billion over the royalties owed to generations of landowners. It has also provided hundreds of millions to fund contract support costs for the tribes.
