Free Joint Status Report - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:06-cv-00931-NBF

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Filed 09/20/2007

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS THE GROS VENTRE & ASSINIBOINE TRIBES BY AND THROUGH THE FORT BELKNAP INDIAN COMMUNITY COUNCIL, THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE FORT BELKNAP INDIAN COMMUNITY OF THE FORT BELKNAP INDIAN RESERVATION Plaintiffs, v. UNITED STATES, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

Case No. 06-931L-NBF

JOINT STATUS REPORT Pursuant to this Court's Order dated March 28, 2007 ("Order"), Plaintiffs Fort Belknap Indian Community Council and the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes and Defendant United States ("the parties") hereby submit the following joint status report. Under the Court's Order, the current stay of litigation expires on March 20, 2008. As the parties have previously represented to the Court, the Plaintiffs are currently engaged in settlement activities as members of the Inter-Tribal Monitoring Association (ITMA) through the ITMA ­ Department of the Interior Tribal Trust Fund Settlement Project ("the Project"). In the time elapsed since entry of the Order, the Plaintiffs and Department of the Interior, along with other participants in the Project, have continued their development of a proposed methodology to address trust accounting and trust fund mismanagement issues and claims. The Plaintiffs have been engaged primarily in developing a plan for analyzing specific claims and issues that would serve as one of several pilot tests for the Project. The Department of the Interior has been primarily engaged in producing documents to the Plaintiffs, and
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Case 1:06-cv-00931-NBF

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Filed 09/20/2007

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conferring with the Plaintiffs and other participants in the Project regarding the development of various proposed methodologies for analyzing several of the claims and issues of the Project participants, including Plaintiffs. The parties propose to undertake tasks and plan additional meetings and discussions in the coming months, among other things, as necessary and appropriate to the advancement of the Tribal Trust Fund Settlement Project. The parties agree that the work undertaken in the past several months will ultimately be useful in advancing their settlement discussions. Counsel of record for Plaintiffs has authorized the attorney of record for Defendant to execute this joint report on behalf of both counsel and to represent to the Court that Plaintiffs fully join in this status report. Respectfully submitted this 20th day of September, 2007, RONALD TENPAS Acting Assistant Attorney General s/ John H. Martin JOHN H. MARTIN United States Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division Natural Resources Section 1961 Stout Street, Eighth Floor Denver, CO 80294 TEL: (303) 844-1383 FAX: (303) 844-1350 Attorney of Record for Defendants OF COUNSEL: Anthony P. Hoang United States Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division Natural Resources Section P.O. Box 663 Washington, D.C. 20044-0663 TEL: (202) 305-0241 FAX: (202) 353-2021 Elisabeth C. Brandon
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Case 1:06-cv-00931-NBF

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Filed 09/20/2007

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Office of the Solicitor United States Department of the Interior Washington, D.C. 20240 Teresa E. Dawson Office of Chief Counsel Financial Management Service United States Department of the Treasury Washington, D.C. 20227 Attorneys for Defendants s/ James Vogel by John H. Martin JAMES VOGEL P.O. Box 525 1 Mile West, Hwy 87 Hardin, MT 59034 TEL: (406) 665-3900 FAX: (406) 665-3901 Attorney of Record for Plaintiff

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