The late Elouise Cobell meets President Barack Obama at the White House. December 8, 2010. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

The late Elouise Cobell is not entitled to an additional $10.5 million in fees from the $3.4 billion settlement in the historic trust fund case that bore her name, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled.

Cobell, who was a member of the Blackfeet Nation of Montana, was awarded $2 million after the settlement was approved by a federal judge in June 2011. Prior to her passing in October 2011, she sought additional fees to cover the expenses she incurred during the course of her 15-year fight to hold the federal government accountable for its management of Indian trust funds.

But Judge Thomas F. Hogan had already determined that those expenses were to come out of Cobell's $2 million award. “She will not get additional monies for her expenses," he said at the time.

The D.C. Circuit agreed with that conclusion. "Compensating Cobell in that manner was entirely appropriate," Judge Patricia Ann Millett wrote in the unanimous decision today.

Indianz.Com SoundCloud: DC Circuit Court of Appeals Oral Arguments in Cobell v. Jewell

On a second issue, the D.C. Circuit said Judge Hogan was wrong to foreclose a discussion on expenses incurred by third parties. As one example, the Indian Land Tenure Foundation loaned $500,000 to Cobell for which she had sought reimbursement.

Hogan didn't rule on the merits of such a request because he believed it to be "procedurally barred" under rules of the court, the decision stated. But the D.C. Circuit said that conclusion was "unwarranted" and ordered further proceedings on the matter.

"Mindful as we are of the length of time that has already elapsed in this proceeding, we decline to resolve this legal issue without providing the district court with an opportunity to consider the interpretive and discretionary issues in the first instance," Millett wrote.

Fees have been a major sticking point since Cobell and the Obama administration announced the settlement in December 2009. The issue slowed down Congressional approval of the deal.

The Cobell legal team was eventually awarded $99 million from the settlement. A portion of that, some $13.6 million, remains in dispute, with the Native American Rights Fund, which worked on the case from its inception, claiming some of the fees. Another attorney who worked on the case is also claiming a share.

DC Circuit Decision:
Cobell v. Jewell (September 18, 2015)

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Disputes over attorney fees in Cobell lawsuit still in mediation (07/02)
Black Farmers Association leader sues for share of Cobell fees (05/16)
Another dispute over attorney fees in Cobell trust fund suit (7/19)
Nonprofit sues Cobell lawsuit team for share of attorney fees (7/17)