According to a Federal judge's ruling, the family of a Native American Indian who died from injuries he sustained while working at a logging site in Montana will receive $3.1 million from the U.S. government. Leland Kicking Woman died in September 1993 when a tree cut down by a coworker landed on his neck, leaving him a quadriplegic. He died nine months later after suffering a stroke.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs, the agency responsible for the supervision and preservation of forests on Indian land, was held liable for Kicking Woman's death after plaintiff attorneys successfully argued that proper safety procedures were not in place at the Lone Bear Logging site on the Blackfeet Reservation.