Chapter 249. Authorizing the Wichita and affiliated bands of Indians in Oklahoma to submit claims to the Court of Claims
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CHAP. 249.— An Act Authorizing the Wichita and affiliated bands of Indians in Oklahoma to submit claims to the Court of Claims. June 4, 1924.[[H. R. 731](/us/bill/68/hr/731).][[Public, No. 187](/us/pl/68/187).] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, * Wichita, etc., Indians, Okla.All claims of, submitted to Court of Claims. That all claims of whatsoever nature which the Wichita and affiliated bands of Indians in Oklahoma may have against the United States may be submitted to the Court of Claims for determination of the amount, if any, due said tribes or bands of Indians from the United States under any treaties, agreements, or laws of Congress, or for the misappropriation of any of the funds of said tribes or bands, or for the failure of the United States to pay said tribes or bands any moneys Jurisdiction and appeal.or other property due; and jurisdiction is hereby conferred on the Court of Claims, with the right of either party to appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States, to hear and determine as right and justice may require and upon a full and fair arbitration all legal and equitable claims, if any, of said tribes or bands against the United States, and to enter judgment thereon.
Sec. 2. Statutes of limitation not a bar. That if any claim or claims be submitted to said court, it shall settle the rights therein, both legal and equitable, of each and all the parties thereto, notwithstanding lapse of time or statutes of limitation, and any payment which may have been made upon Offsets, etc.any claim so submitted shall not be pleaded as an estoppel, but may be pleaded as an offset in such suits or actions, and the United States shall be allowed credit for all sums including gratuities heretofore paid or expended for the benefit of said tribes or any band thereof. 367 The claim or claims of the Wichita and affiliated bands may be Procedure.presented separately or jointly by petition, subject, however, to amendment, suit to be filed within five years after the date of the passage of this Act; and such action shall make the petitioner or petitioners party plaintiff or plaintiffs and the United States party defendant, and any band or bands of the said Wichita and affiliated bands or any other tribe or bands of Indians the court may deem necessary to a final determination of such suit or suits may be joined therein as the court may order.
Such petition or petitions shall be Verification of petition.verified by the attorney or attorneys employed by the Wichita and affiliated bands or any tribe or band thereof under contract approved in accordance with existing law and no other verification shall be necessary. Official letters, papers, documents, and public records, Evidence admitted.or certified copies thereof may be used in evidence, and the departments of the Government shall give access to the attorney or attorneys of said tribes or bands thereof to such treaties, papers, correspondence, or records as may be needed by the attorney or attorneys for said tribes of Indians.
Sec. 3. That upon the final determination of such suit or cause of Attorneys’ fees by court decree.action, the Court of Claims shall decree such fees as it shall find reasonable to be paid to the attorney or attorneys employed therein by said tribes under contracts negotiated and approved as provided by existing law, but in no case shall the fees decreed by said court, Limitation.amount to more than 10 per centum of the amount of the judgment recovered in such cause, and in no event shall such fee amount in the aggregate under one attorneyship for each tribe to more than $25,000, and shall be paid out of any judgment that may be recovered;
Payment from judgment.Balance to credit of Indians.and the balance of such judgment shall be placed in the United States Treasury to the credit of the Indians entitled thereto, where it shall draw interest at the rate of 4 per centum per annum. Approved, June 4, 1924.