TULSA, Okla. (AP) — The Cherokee Nation has filed legal documents claiming it would be inappropriate for Baby Veronica's adopted parents to seek more than $1 million in legal fees.
The tribe claims federal and state law gives the tribe sovereign immunity. But that would not apply to Dusten Brown, the biological father who had custody of Veronica for two years and fought a legal battle to keep her in Oklahoma.
With custody of the 4-year-old awarded to Matt and Melanie Capobianco, the South Carolina couple has filed a motion to collect more than $1 million in attorneys' fees from Brown and his tribe. The Tulsa World reports that a judge in Nowata County, where the Brown family lives, will likely have a hearing on the issue, but no date has been set.