African-American Farmers May Get Another Opportunity at the Pigford “Black Farmer Settlement”

New ”black farmers’ lawsuits” set to follow historic ”black farmers’ class action lawsuit” of 1999

In 1997, African-American farmer Timothy Pigford filed a class action lawsuit (Pigford v. Glickman, or ”Pigford”) against the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). This was in large part a response to the USDA’s failing to implement its own recommendations for addressing the persistent racism in the administration of its programs. African-American farmers turned to the courts in hopes of finally addressing this monumental injustice. The settlement was reached on behalf of African-American farmers in 1999, and became known as the ”Black Farmer Settlement”.

The ”Black Farmer Settlement” was the largest in civil rights history. Unfortunately, a vast number of African American farmers did not have their cases heard on the merits, and a majority of African American farmers who filed claims under the ”Black Farmer Settlement” did not get the opportunity to have their claims heard.

If you or a family member is an African-American farmer who tried to participate in the ”Black Farmer Settlement”, but had the claim denied due to its being “late” please contact our offices immediately. Proposed new legislation may give the opportunity to have ”late Pigford” or ”late Black Farmer Settlement” claims heard.

The Pigford class action lawsuit set an initial deadline of October 12, 1999 to file a claim. As it turns out, only 21,776 individuals learned about the settlement and submitted a claim by the deadline. On September 15, 2000, the deadline for late claimants passed – this time with far more applications. Despite the fact that many believed the notice for the Pigford claims process was ineffective or defective, and that Judge Friedman himself described the farmer’s representation at one point of “border[ing] on legal malpractice,” lack of notice was ruled an unacceptable reason for late filing.

A vast number of farmers did not have their cases heard on the merits. Approximately 73,800 petitioners (66,000 before the September 15, 2000 late filing deadline) were filed under the late filing procedure, of which only 2,116 were approved. Thus the vast majority of Pigford filers have unredressed claims of discrimination.

Ninety-seven percent of all late claimants and more than 75 percent of all claimants were denied the new “forty acres and a mule” promised in the Pigford v. Glickman class action lawsuit. But the fight is not over.

Legislation in the United States Congress aims to reopen Pigford v. Glickman and allow "black farmers’"claims of racial discrimination to be answered. The Food and Energy Security Act of 2007, may allow certain African American farmers to realize the promises of Pigford v. Glickman once and for all.

Getting Started

If you are an African American farmer who:

• Farmed, or attempted to farm, between January 1, 1981 and December 31, 1996;
• Applied to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) during that time period for participation in a federal farm credit or benefit program and believe that you were discriminated against on the basis of race in USDA’s response to that application;
• Filed a discrimination complaint on or before July 1, 1997, regarding USDA’s treatment of such farm credit or benefit application; and
• Previously submitted a late-filing request under the Pigford settlement.

Then, you may benefit from legislation pending in Washington, D.C.

Click here to contact us, or call us at 1-800-891-1148 to see how we may be able to help you.