WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Thursday, Judge Thomas Hogan of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia finalized settlement of litigation between the Department of the Interior and plaintiffs in Peltier versus Haaland. The litigation was filed in 1992 and resulted in a settlement for the tribes and the individuals of $59 million, according to Interior Department information.

The Class Action Settlement Agreement settles the claims of 39,003 individual beneficiaries against the United States for mismanagement of the Pembina Judgment Fund, a trust fund containing additional compensation for certain lands that the Pembina Band of Chippewa Indians ceded to the United States. Final approval of the agreement activates the settlement reached in the Court of Federal Claims with the four beneficiary tribes: the Chippew3a Cree Tribe of the Rocky Boy’s Reservation, the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, The Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana and the White Earth Band of Chippewa Indians.

The Department of the Interior stated it is “wholly committed to strengthening our government-to-government relationship with tribes, including reconciling long-standing disputes regarding proper management of tribal trust assets. The Department will continue to diligently execute its trust responsibility to federally recognized tribes and enact policies that promote tribal sovereignty, self-determination and economic self-sufficiency.”