Black Farmers Secure $1.25 Billion From USDA in Pigford II Settlement

For decades the U.S. Department of Agriculture ran farm loan and disaster aid programs that were supposed to be open to every applicant. Black farmers who sought help from roughly 1983 to 1997 were often turned down, offered less than white applicants, or saw their discrimination complaints go uninvestigated. Many lost land, equipment, and the ability to keep farming after credit they qualified for went to their white neighbors instead.

A first lawsuit, Pigford v. Glickman, settled in 1999 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The notice to potential class members was so poor that tens of thousands of farmers never learned of the deadline and filed too late to recover. About 73,800 of those late petitions sat unresolved.

The 2008 Farm Bill gave the late filers a second chance, letting them bring a new case, In re Black Farmers Discrimination Litigation, widely called Pigford II. The Law Offices of James Scott Farrin took the lead driver role for a coalition of more than 25 firms, and Farrin served on the plaintiffs' steering committee. The firm built its own case management system and, over roughly six months, sent lawyers to hold hundreds of in-person meetings with farmers across more than 20 states and Washington, DC. Farrin borrowed millions of dollars to keep the work moving while the case was pending.

On February 18, 2010, Attorney General Eric Holder and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a $1.25 billion settlement. Congress paid for it through the Claims Resolution Act of 2010, which appropriated $1.15 billion and was signed into law on December 8, 2010, combined with $100 million already authorized under the 2008 Farm Bill.

The deal set up a nonjudicial claims process with two paths. Track A gave claimants a faster review with cash awards up to $50,000, plus possible debt forgiveness and a payment toward taxes. Track B let a smaller group pursue up to $250,000 through a more demanding, document-heavy review.

The $1.25 billion was a negotiated settlement rather than a jury verdict, so no appellate court later cut the figure. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted final approval on October 27, 2011, and payments to approved farmers began going out in 2013.