Ms Cobell returned to Washington and, after a brush-off from government lawyers, filed the suit.

ECONOMIST: Justice for Indians

Take a look at the settlement agreement earlier this month in Cobell v.

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Ms Cobell and her seven siblings grew up in a one-bedroom house on the Blackfeet reservation without electricity, telephones or running water.

ECONOMIST: Justice for Indians

Step by step - as with the passage of Cobell and the four historic water rights settlements - we are getting there.

WHITEHOUSE: Fulfilling Our Promise in Indian Country

Long-standing legal disputes, like the Cobell case, have been resolved.

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And also, since Senate Republicans are holding up the issue of Cobell and Pigford, too, can you make any assurances before you leave office that you will make sure that those awards are funded?

WHITEHOUSE: President Obama News Conference

First, Congress has authorized the Cobell settlement, an agreement that will resolve the 14-year, highly contentious class action lawsuit regarding the U.S. government's trust management and accounting of individual American Indian trust accounts.

WHITEHOUSE: Fulfilling Our Promise in Indian Country

The 1997 awardees included Luis Alfaro, a Los Angeles performance artist who challenges views on race relations, gender and poverty, and Elouise Cobell of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana, who started a bank for American Indians.

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