Black Farmer Mega-Settlement Clears Way for Discrimination Claims by Women, Hispanics

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Fox News:


"This has been a concerted effort the president has been behind, a concerted effort that we at USDA have been behind, and I think it is an historic opportunity for us to close the chapter on what has been a sordid chapter of civil rights in this USDA and start a new chapter," he told reporters in a conference call.

Though he noted that the cases do not enjoy class-action status and could be handled as "thousands of individual cases," he said the plaintiffs can still accept the government's settlement "that we're in the process of finalizing." He suggested the money, which has not been voted on by Congress, would come from the so-called Judgment Fund -- a funding source set aside by the federal government for settlements and court judgments.

He said plaintiffs need to provide "substantial evidence, documentary evidence, of the fact that you tried to do business or you did do business with USDA and you were not treated fairly."

Asked about King's earlier criticism of the Pigford settlement, Vilsack said there is "absolutely no proof" to back up his concerns about fraud.

Carl Horowitz, a project manager with the National Legal and Policy Center who has followed all the discrimination cases, described the Love and Garcia claims as "copycat suits" that would not have existed if not for Pigford. He criticized the claims as having "scant" documentation and said plaintiffs are just trying to strike while the government is in settlement mode.

"This is a classic case of hitting the lottery," he said.