Hispanic Farmers Fight To Sue USDA

NPR reports on an important story of discrimination that has not gotten much press:  “In Texas and across the Southwest, Hispanic farmers have been fighting the Agriculture Department for close to a decade. The farmers say the department’s Farm Services Agency discriminated against them — denying or delaying loans, and refusing to investigate when they cried foul. The government settled a similar complaint brought by African-American farmers for $1 billion. And while the claims of discrimination and other factors are almost identical, the Hispanic farmers have gotten nothing.” (emphasis added).

For civil procedure buffs, the story is especially interesting because an important part of the Department of Agriculture’s refusal to settle with the Hispanic farmers as a group turns on the denial of class certification of the Hispanic farmers. see Garcia v. Johanns, 444 F.3d 625 (D.C. Cir. 2006), a decision of which they are seeking review in the U.S. Supreme Court

Hattip to Rex Perschbacher!

KJ