A federal judge ruled Thursday that American Indian plaintiffs are entitled to $455 million in a long-running trust case, a fraction of the $47 billion they wanted.

But U.S. District Judge James Robertson did not say how the government should award the money, writing that his opinion "leaves for another day the question of how and to whom the award should be distributed."

Robertson's final number is close to government estimates and far from the billions sought by plaintiffs in the 12-year trial. The lawsuit _ filed on behalf of a half-million American Indians and their heirs _ claims they were swindled out of billions of dollars in oil, gas, grazing, timber and other royalties overseen by the Interior Department since 1887.

The judge said he will have to hold another proceeding to decide how the money will be awarded, hinting that he hopes for a settlement between the two parties before then.

"Perhaps it is not too much to hope that the announcement in this memorandum of a hard number will give rise to some off-line conversation between the parties in the meantime," wrote Robertson, who is based in Washington, D.C.

At issue was how much of the royalty money was withheld from the Indian plaintiffs over the years, and whether it was held in the U.S. treasury at a benefit to the government.

Robertson said in the opinion that plaintiffs did not successfully argue that the money was of benefit to the government over the years, significantly reducing his final estimate of what the American Indians were owed.

"Plaintiffs' demonstrated willingness to accept data they liked and reject data they disliked did not enhance the credibility of their model," he added.

In a statement, lead plaintiff Elouise Cobell, a Blackfeet Indian, said she is "disappointed, to say the least."

"We believe we presented a strong, compelling case that individual Indian trust beneficiaries are entitled to much more than the government's admitted mismanagement of our trust monies over the past 120 years," she said.

The Interior Department broke its customary silence on the case to praise the ruling.

"The department is gratified that the court recognized the complexities and uncertainties involved in this case," said James E. Cason, associate deputy Secretary of the Interior.

Because many of the records have been lost or destroyed, it has been up to the court to decide how to best estimate how much the individual Indians _ many of whom are nearing the end of their lives _ should be paid.

During the course of the trial, plaintiffs reduced the amount they said they were owed based on documents that became available in the proceedings. They settled on $47 billion, down from their estimate going into the trial, which was $58 billion. Earlier estimates were as high as $100 billion. Continued...