Garcia v. Glickman

No. 1:00CV02445 (D.C. filed Feb. 8, 2001) ; Clearinghouse Number: 53853

Description

Hispanic American Farmers Sue Department of Agriculture for Discrimination in Farm Credit Programs

Abstract

In a suit against U.S. Department of Agriculture secretary, class of Hispanic American farmers and ranchers alleges systematic discrimination in farm credit and other farm programs. Plaintiffs say that defendant denied their credit and other applications, provided loans late, or provided less money than necessary to farm adequately, because of plaintiffs’ race or ethnicity. Plaintiffs allege that defendant failed to investigate their discrimination complaints after the disbanding of the department’s civil rights enforcement arm in 1983. They state, among other allegations, that defendant provided an operating loan two months after the planting season started while white farmers’ loans were processed timely; defendant undervalued a farm and thus precluded plaintiff owner from participation in a debt-restructuring program and claimed a much higher value six months later in plaintiff’s bankruptcy proceeding; defendant refused to finance a plaintiff’s purchase of a farm because defendant claimed that it lacked sufficient water, while financing white farmers operating the farm; and a plaintiff who filed ten discrimination complaints from 1984 to 1994 received only one response, in 1998, denying her 1993 complaint and bearing the signature of an official who left the department a year before. Plaintiffs claim that, in addition to emotional and physical harm, the discrimination caused many of them to lose farms through foreclosure or bankruptcy; they cite investigative reports by the Office of Inspector General and Civil Rights Action Team. Plaintiffs estimate the class at over 20,000 members, based on the number of complaints filed with the department by Hispanic Americans since 1981. Plaintiffs believe the Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act of 1999 waives the statute of limitations and permits class allegations stretching back to 1981. Plaintiffs bring claims under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and the Administrative Procedure Act for violation of their statutory and constitutional rights and seek damages of $20 billion. [Editor’s note: This case follows a similar suit, Pigford v. Glickman, 185 F.R.D. 82 (D.D.C. 1999) (Clearinghouse No. 52,961), that African American farmers brought.]

Additional Information

Attorney Information
Docket Date
2001-02-08 00:00:00+00:00

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