The Law Offices of James Scott Farrin and McEachin & Gee LLP File Discrimination Suit For Approximately 2,700 Additional African American Farmers Against United States Department of Agriculture

Business Wire, June 23, 2008

Second Discrimination Suit Filed Against USDA Brings Their Total Number of Clients Who Have Filed Suit To More Than 3,500 African American Farmers

DURHAM, N.C. -- The following statement was issued today by the Law Offices of James Scott Farrin:

The Law Offices of James Scott Farrin, and McEachin & Gee LLP filed an additional lawsuit on Friday, June 20, 2008 on behalf of approximately 2,700 clients, bringing their total number of African American clients who have filed suit claiming discrimination against the federal government to more than 3,500.

On June 3, 2008, the firms previously announced the lawsuit they filed on behalf of the National Black Farmers Association (NBFA) and hundreds of the nearly forty thousand African American farmers. The Law Offices of James Scott Farrin and McEachin & Gee LLP have joined together to fight for their clients, and seek their long-overdue opportunity for a determination of their claims based on their merits.

Despite the Court's intent to provide compensation to black farmers who were victims of discrimination based upon the original Pigford litigation concerning government discrimination against African American farmers of April 14,1999, tens of thousands of African American farmers never had a chance to have their claims reviewed. Enacting legislation proposed in part by Senator Barack Obama, Congress has effectively reopened Pigford v. Glickman and allowed black farmers who filed late claims of racial discrimination in the Pigford case to go forward with a new case to receive a determination on the merits. (The Food and Energy Security Act of 2008, or the Farm Bill.)

The firms have set up an informational telephone line at 1-866-472-7826, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Also available is an informational website, http://www.blackfarmerclaims.com, where attorney Donald Gee discusses his own childhood working on a black-owned farm.

The Law Offices of James Scott Farrin, and McEachin & Gee LLP are the only firms endorsed by Dr. John Boyd and the National Black Farmers' Association. The firms collectively represent over 40,000 black farmers. For more information please contact Eric Sanchez at 1 (800) 220-7321 or by email at publicrelations@farrin.com.