"Late last year, President Obama signed into law a $3.4 billion settlement with Native Americans who had sued the U.S. government for swindling them out of billions in oil and gas royalties. The settlement, Mr. Obama said, “closes a long and unfortunate chapter in our history.”

Not quite.

There are still several issues that a D.C. federal trial judge must sign off on, including how much to pay the lawyers for the Native Americans. This is where a new and unfortunate chapter of this long tale begins.

The original settlement as outlined by Congress contemplated legal fees in the range of $50 million to $99.9 million to the legal team — a jaw-dropping number made all the more shocking because the average Native American is expected to receive roughly $1,800."

Get the Story:
Edtiorial: Legal fee excesses in Indian case (The Washington Post 4/10)

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