Georgia Black Farmers Win Lawsuit

PRESS RELEASE


For Immediate Release


Selma, AL July 13, 2009


Black Farmers Awarded Over $14 Million,

Biggest Award Ever In Long Running Lawsuit



After a 10-year struggle, Black Farmers in Georgia were awarded $12,789,162 plus an undetermined sum for debt relief based on discrimination by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Reverend Charles Sherrod, one of the leading Black Farmers in the case, said, “Thank God this is finally over and Justice is done. Attorney Sanders never stopped fighting for us. Now we can move on to fulfill our dream.”

Shirley Sherrod who works for the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, a farming organization that helps Black Farmers, and a leader in the case, said, “Losing the farm killed our dream turning it into a long nightmare. Now we can breath new life in the dream.” Rose M. Sanders, attorney for the Black Farmers, said, “It was such a long hard fight. This decision makes all the long hard hours worked and years of waiting and fighting worth it.”

The awardee was New Communities, Inc., a non-profit corporation near Albany , Georgia led by Reverend Charles Sherrod and Shirley Sherrod, long time civil rights leaders starting in the sixties. There were a number of families making up the New Communities Corporation. The group purchased nearly 6,000 acres in 1969 and 1970. As a result of the discrimination by USDA, they loss 4,387 acres in the eighties. The award included $8,247,560 for loss of land, $4,241,601 for loss of farm income and $300,000 for mental anguish to Charles Sherrod and Shirley Sherrod. It also included debt relief estimated at more than a million dollars.

The discrimination occurred way back in 1981, 1982 and 1983. The award was part of the Black Farmers lawsuit now known as Pigford v. Vilsack, a class action commenced in 1998. This is the largest award by far that any single claimant received in the lawsuit. The New Communities claim was tried by arbitration in 2002. The initial arbitration ruled against New Communities and was appealed. The two-step appeal took some seven years.

Attorney Sanders said, “We as attorneys will not receive one penny from the nearly $13 million dollars award. Every penny goes to New Communities except for $300,000 which goes to Charles and Shirley Sherrod. We will have to try to get some attorney fees from the Government but that is always a problem.”

Some 15, 000 Black Farmers have been collectively awarded nearly a billion dollars in the long running Pigford lawsuit. Most of the awards were in the $50,000 range. The New Communities award dwafts any other single award by a huge margin.


Contact Information:

Rose M. Sanders
(334) 875-9264 or (334) 327-9460

Charles & Shirley Sherrod
(229) 432-1338