Wednesday, June 4, 2008

The Law Offices of James Scott Farrin, and McEachin & Gee LLP File Suit on Behalf of Hundreds of African American Farmers Who Claim Racial Discrimination against the USDA

The Law Offices of James Scott Farrin, and McEachin & Gee LLP filed a lawsuit on Monday, June 2, 2008, on behalf of the National Black Farmers Association (NBFA) and hundreds of the nearly forty thousand African American farmers they represent in claims of discrimination against the federal government.

Durham, NC (PRWEB) June 4, 2008 -- The following statement was issued today by the Law Offices of James Scott Farrin:

The Law Offices of James Scott Farrin, and McEachin & Gee LLP filed a lawsuit on Monday, June 2, 2008 in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (Case number 1:08-cv-00940), on behalf of the National Black Farmers Association (NBFA) and hundreds of the nearly forty thousand African American farmers they represent in claims of discrimination against the federal government.

"Forty acres and a mule. The government broke that promise to African American farmers," Judge Paul L. Friedman wrote in a Consent Decree as part of the original Pigford litigation concerning government discrimination against African American farmers on April 14, 1999. Despite the Court's intent that the class action provide compensation to black farmers who were victims of discrimination, tens of thousands of African American farmers never even had a chance to have their claims reviewed. Enacting legislation, proposed in part by Senator Barack Obama, Congress has effectively reopened Pigford v. Glickman and allowed black farmers who filed late claims of racial discrimination in the Pigford case to go forward with a new case to receive a determination on the merits. (The Food and Energy Security Act of 2008, or the Farm Bill.)

Commenting on the recent filing, attorney James Scott Farrin said, "The USDA failed our clients, and the class action settlement failed our clients. Our clients want action, and our clients want change -- the time for both is now."

The Law Offices of James Scott Farrin, and McEachin & Gee LLP have joined together to fight for their clients, and seek their long-overdue opportunity for a determination of their claims based on their merits. The firms have set up an informational website: Donald Gee discusses his own childhood working on a black-owned farm.

The Law Offices of James Scott Farrin, and McEachin & Gee LLP are the only firms endorsed by Dr. John Boyd, and the National Black Farmers' Association. The firms collectively represent over 40,000 black farmers. For more information please contact Eric Sanchez at 1 (800) 220-7321 or by email at publicrelations@farrin.com.


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