The Obama administration announced Tuesday it had reached a $760 million settlement with Native American farmers who had alleged years of discrimination in loan programs by the Department of Agriculture. "The farmers have fought for 11 years and through three administrations to resolve the case," Spencer S. Hsu and Krissah Thompson of The Washington Post report. "The settlement announced today will allow USDA and the Native American farmers involved in the lawsuit to move forward and focus on the future," Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said in a statement.
The class-action suit was filed in 1999 by nearly 900 people and covers USDA actions dating back to 1981. "This settlement marks a major turning point in the important relationship between Native Americans, our nation's first farmers, and the USDA," lead plaintiffs' attorney Joseph M. Sellers, a partner at the Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll law firm in Washington, told the Post. The agreement would pay $680 million in damages and would forgive $80 million of outstanding farm loan debt.
Sellers credited the Obama administration for addressing "longstanding ... and festering problems" in farm programs after taking office. "With the entry of the new administration, we saw a decided change in the attitude of the government to this litigation," Sellers said. "Rather than kicking it down the road, they really seemed open to working with us." (Read more)
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