SUBCOMMITTEE ON INDIAN AND ALASKA NATIVE AFFAIRS
1334 Longworth House Office Building
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
11:00 a.m.

• Official hearing transcript
• Press Release - Indian and Alaska Native Affairs Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Bill to Cap Cobell Settlement Fees (4/5/2011)
• Press Release - Chairmen Young, Hastings Introduce Legislation Limiting Excessive Attorney Fees in Cobell Settlement (3/2/2011)

LEGISLATIVE HEARING ON:

• H.R. 887 (Young of AK), To direct the Secretary of the Interior to submit a report on Indian land fractionation, and for other purposes.

OPENING STATEMENTS:

The Honorable Don Young
Chairman

The Honorable Doc Hastings
Full Committee Chairman

WITNESSES AND TESTIMONY:

Panel I

Patricia Douville
Council Representative
Rosebud Sioux Tribe

Professor Richard Monette
U. of Wisconsin-Madison Law School
Former Tribal Chairman and
Current IIM Account Holder

BACKGROUND:

The $3.4 billion Settlement Agreement, enacted into law last December, included an agreement, signed by the plaintiff attorneys and the government, setting attorney fees between $50 million and $99.9 million. However, plaintiff attorneys recently filed a petition in U.S. District Court seeking $223 million pursuant to a previously unknown contingency fee agreement, the exact details of which are still undisclosed.