A U.S. Court of Appeals panel of judges has agreed to grant an appeal made by both Native American landowners and the Interior Department as part of a 12-year-long lawsuit supposedly brought to an end by a federal court ruling this summer.

It was announced on Friday that three circuit judges agreed to grant hearings in the Cobell vs. Kempthorne lawsuit.

Elouise Cobell, lead plaintiff from Browning, Mont., said she hoped the Court of Appeals would expedite the date for both sides to make oral arguments because "too many people have been dying," referring to elders represented in the class-action suit who will never receive their share of a monetary award settlement.

An Interior Department spokesman was not available for comment.

Lawyers for landowners and the government filed appeals in August after both disagreed with a final ruling made by U.S. District Court Judge James Robertson, in which he ordered a $455.6 million restitution to Native landowners. The Interior Department's trust fund management system has been the subject of harsh reviews by Congress and in thousands of pages of court filings.

Robertson presided over the Cobell restitution trial for nearly two weeks in June, during which time lawyers argued Native landholders were owed as much as $48 billion.

Government lawyers appealed the case, claiming Robertson lacked jurisdiction to award any money in a settlement to landowners.

Cobell lawyers argued the judge failed to follow U.S. Supreme Court precedent in two major Indian trust cases, including the White Mountain Apache and Mitchell rulings. They also will argue in their appeal that an award settlement should include at least 120 years of interest payments.

Reach reporter Jodi Rave at 800-366-7186 or jodi.rave@lee.net.