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Compiled and edited by Charles J. Kappler. Washington : Government Printing Office, 1929.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That jurisdiction be, and is hereby, conferred upon the Court of Claims, with the right of appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States by either party as in other cases, to hear, examine, and adjudicate and render judgment in any and all legal and equitable claims arising under or growing out of the treaty of February 27, 1855 (Tenth Statutes, page 1172), and the Act of February 21, 1863 (Twelfth Statutes, page 658), or arising under or growing out, of any subsequent Act of Congress, Executive order, or treaty which said Winnebago Tribe of Indians, or any band thereof, may have against the United States, which claims have not heretofore been determined and adjudicated on their merits by the Court of Claims or the Supreme Court of the United States.
Any and all claims against the United States within the purview of this Act shall be forever barred unless suit be instituted or petition filed as herein provided in the Court of Claims within three years from the date of the approval of this Act, and such suit shall make the Winnebago Indians, or any band thereof, party plaintiff and the United States party defendant. The petitions shall be verified by the attorney or attorneys employed to prosecute such claim or claims under contract with said Winnebago Indians approved in accordance with existing law; and said contract shall be executed in their behalf by a committee or committees to be selected by said Winnebago Indians as hereinafter provided. Official letters, papers, documents, and records, 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 Winnebago Indians to such treaties, papers, correspondence, and records as they may require in the prosecution of any suit instituted under this Act.
In said suit or suits the court shall hear, examine, and adjudicate any claims which the United States may have against said Winnebago Indians, and any payment, including gratuities, which the United States may have made to said Indians prior to the date of adjudication, shall not operate as an estoppel but may be pleaded as an offset in such suit.
If it be determined by the court that the United States in violation of the terms and provisions of any law, treaty, Executive order, or agreement as provided in section 1 hereof, has unlawfully appropriated or disposed of any money or other property belonging to the Indians, the damages therefor shall be confined to the value of the money or other property at the time of such appropriation or the disposal thereof; and with reference to all claims which may be the subject matter of the suit herein authorized, the decree of the courts shall be in full settlement of all damages, if any, committed by the Government of the United States and shall annul and cancel all claim, right, and title of said Winnebago Indians. in and to such money or other property.
The Court of Claims shall have full authority by proper orders and process to bring in and make parties to such suit any other tribe or band of Indians deemed by it necessary or proper to the final determination of the matters in controversy.
A copy of the petition shall, in such case, be served upon the Attorney General of the United States, and he, or some attorney
from the Department of Justice to be designated by him, is hereby directed to appear and defend in the interest of the United States in such case.
Upon final determination of such suit the Court of Claims shall have jurisdiction to fix and determine a reasonable fee, not to exceed 10 per centum of the recovery, and in any event, not more that $25,000, together with all necessary and proper expenses incurred in preparation and prosecution of the suit, to be paid to the attorneys employed by the said tribe or bands of Indians, and the same shall be included in the decree and shall be paid out of any sum or sums found to be due said tribe.
The amount of any judgment shall be placed in the Treasury of the United States to the credit of the said Indians and shall draw interest at the rate of 4 per centum per annum and shall be thereafter subject to appropriation by Congress for educational, health, industrial, and other purposes for the benefit of said Indians, including the purchase of lands and building of homes, and no part of said judgment shall be paid out in per capita payments to said Indians. The costs incurred in any suit hereunder shall be fixed against the losing party; if against the United States such costs shall be included in the amount of the judgment or decree, and if against said Indians shall be paid by the Secretary of the Treasury out of the funds standing to their credit in the Treasury of the United States: Provided, That actual cost necessary to be incurred by the Winnebago Indians as required by the rules of court in the prosecution of this suit shall be paid out of the funds of the Winnebago Tribe in the Treasury of the United States.
Approved, December 17, 1928.
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