"The ideal would be for them to accept the fact that they were terminated," Natchees said. "It was their choice . . . the federal government went along."

She added that the repeated litigation is draining funds from the tribe that would be better spent elsewhere.

"Every time we have to appear in court, it costs money," Natchees said. "That money could be spent on other purposes — education, housing."

Chappabitty, however, contends the federal government is presenting a false picture of what really happened. He claims the government violated a federally approved tribal constitution, which he says gave legal assurances that no one band could affect, negate or diminish the rights of any of the other bands.

"We haven't found any clear and convincing evidence that the Uinta band voted to terminate themselves," he said. "That's been a fiction."

As a result of the termination, the Ute Distribution Corp. (UDC) was formed to manage the nontangible assets allocated to the mixed-blood Uintas. Each person was given 10 shares.

Many of the plaintiffs were children at the time. They say they were swindled out of their shares during tough economic times. The shares, they say, weren't supposed to be negotiable.

Today, the shares' value is spurred by oil and gas revenue, said Pala Nelson, a member of the UDC board of directors. Nelson declined to release the value of a UDC share today, saying only that "it changes so dramatically as you watch the price of oil and gas."

Chappabitty said the lawsuit is asking for either $10,000 or $3 million per plaintiff, depending on how the court characterizes the claims, and reinstatement of tribal status.

Plaintiff Oranna Felter was 11 years old at the time of the partition, along with about one-third of all terminated Utes who were children, according to the plaintiffs.

Felter says she was a young adult when her mother died, leaving five shares of her late younger sister's UDC stock. Felter said a local judge ordered that the shares be auctioned off.

"My little sister's UDC stock should have never had to be 'sold' to pay 'bills.' " Felter said. "I didn't know what the laws were . . . they did."

But to Felter, the issue is more than just money. It's about her identity as a Native American.

"When they terminated us, they said, 'You're no longer Indian, you're white,' " she said. "They don't recognize our kids as being able to be enrolled (as Utes) or recognized.

"Our own tribe treated us really bad, shunning us," she said. "Whenever we would go to sun dances they'd say you're terminated and you don't belong here."