Pub. L. 100-581, tit. III, sec. 301

Sec. 301. (a) As compensation for and in settlement of all claims arising as the result of alleged errors in the Secretary of the Interior’s approval of purported conveyances of land involved in the will of Garret White (also known as Many Whitehorse), upon certification by the Secretary of the Interior that the conditions precedent in subsection (c) have been met, the Secretary of the Treasury is directed to pay as a settlement under 1304(a)9l) of title 31, United States Code, not to exceed the following sums— (1) $50,000.00 to John Benedict Renville of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation; (2) $58,500.00 to be held in trust by the Secretary of the Interior for the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana; (5) $127,000.00 to Mary Lois Peterson Munoz of Cut Bank, Montana; and (4) $165,535.00, to the Secretary of the Interior to be held in trust for John Benedict Renville, less attorney fees paid to the attorney for John Benedict Renville as provided in this title. (b) The payment and acceptance of such compensation shall be in full satisfaction of all claims that the receiving party has against the United States or any employee or officer thereof, and against any other party, in connection with the purported sale of some five hundred and forty acres of trust land involved in the will of Garret White to the Blackfeet Tribe approved October 28, 1946, the purported exchange of some two hundred and eighty acres of the land by the Tribe for other land, and the purported acquisition of the two hundred and eighty acres by Mary Lois Peterson Munoz. (c) Each of the following is a condition precedent to any payment under subsection (a) of this Act: 102 STAT. 2943 (1) Each of the parties shall execute such releases, conveyances, or other documents as the Secretary of the Interior determines are necessary to carry out this Act by settling the claims and transferring interests in and clearing titles to the land involved. The execution of such documents on behalf of the Blackfeet Tribe is hereby authorized and is deemed approved under Resolution 250–87 of the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council and such documents may be executed by the Chairman. The Secretary of the Interior may approve and execute on behalf of the United States such documents as are necessary to carry out this Act. (2) The Blackfeet Tribe shall transfer its interests in the remaining approximately two hundred and forty acres of land acquired by the Tribe on October 28, 1946, to the Secretary of the Interior who shall take the interests in trust for John Benedict Renville. (3) Mary Lois Peterson Munoz shall transfer to the Secretary of the Interior all of her interests in the approximately two hundred and eighty acres of land which had been acquired by the Blackfeet Tribe on October 28, 1946, to the Secretary of the Interior who shall take the interests in trust for John Benedict Renville. (4) A final order has been entered in the civil action entitled John Benedict Renville v. Blackfeet Tribe of Indians, et al., No. CV–84–41–6F, in the United States District Court for the District of Montana dismissing with prejudice all claims, crossclaims, counterclaims, third-party claims, and all other claims arising out of such civil action. (d) The land and the interests therein acquired in trust by the Secretary of the Interior under this title shall be subject to the laws that would apply if the sale of October 28, 1946, had not taken place. (e) The amounts paid under subsection (a) of this title to John Benedict Renville are subject to section 7 of the Act of October 19, 1973 (87 Stat. 468; 25 U.S.C. 1407), as amended. (f) The amounts paid under subsection (a) of this Act to Mary Lois Peterson Munoz shall be considered as funds for condemnation proceedings as provided for in section 1033 of the Internal Revenue Code. (g) No part of any amount paid under this Act in excess of 10 percent of such amount, including the value of the land returned, shall be paid or delivered to, or received by, any agent or attorney on account of services rendered John Benedict Renville in connection with any claim settled under this Act and the same shall be unlawful, any contract to the contrary notwithstanding. Violation of this subsection shall be a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of no more than $1,000. (h) The Secretary of the Interior shall cause to be made an appraisal of the value of the lands described in subsection (b) as of the date of enactment of this Act; and the sums paid to the Blackfeet Tribe and Mary Lois Peterson Munoz under subsection (a) of this Act shall not exceed such appraisal values, plus a reasonable attorney’s fee, not to exceed 10 percent of such award, any contract to the contrary notwithstanding. Violation of this subsection shall be a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of no more than $1,000.