Land claim to go to federal appeals court

The Oneida Indian Nation will ask a federal appeals court Tuesday to overturn a lower court decision that the tribe has no right to take back title to 250,000 acres of disputed land in upstate New York, according to the AP.

 

At the same time, attorneys for New York will appear before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to challenge the lower court’s determination that the Oneidas might be entitled to millions of dollars in compensation, AP is reporting.

 

The New York Oneidas joined with Oneida tribes from Canada and Wisconsin in a 1974 lawsuit claiming that more than 250,000 acres of Oneida land in Madison and Oneida counties had been illegally purchased by New York state in the 18th and 19th centuries, according to the AP.

 

After years of failed negotiations, U.S. District Court Lawrence Kahn ruled last May that the tribe could not reclaim title to the land it sold more than a century ago, but it could be entitled to some of the profits the state made reselling that property, AP reports.

 

The Oneidas claim the state underpaid them by about $500,000. With compound interest over two centuries, that is worth $500 million today, Peter Carmen, one of the tribe’s attorneys, said Monday, according to the AP.