American Indian plaintiffs to appeal WASHINGTON (wpr) - A half-million American Indian plaintiffs are appealing a federal judge's recent decision to award them much less
than they wanted in a long-running trust case.

Last month, U.S. District Judge James Robertson said the plaintiffs are entitled to 455 million dollars, a fraction of the
47 billion dollars that they had sought.

The lawsuit, filed a dozen years ago, claims Indians were swindled out of billions of dollars in oil, gas, grazing, timber and other royalties overseen by the Interior Department since 1887.

The lead plaintiff, Elouise Cobell, says the judge's decision was unfair, and they can't let it stand.

The appeal is scheduled to be filed today. © Copyright 2009, wpr