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WASHINGTON — American Indian farmers alleged Wednesday they lost some $500 million as a result of loan discrimination at the Agriculture Department over the past three decades.
The plaintiffs of a class-action lawsuit said they are ready to go to trial to prove their claim but hope that President Barack Obama's administration will look favorably on a settlement after strong resistance from the Bush White House.
"We've listened to rhetoric for 10 years now," said Claryca Mandan of North Dakota, who with her husband is a lead plaintiff in the 1999 lawsuit. "We would like to see those words translate into action."
She and other plaintiffs point to a settlement that USDA reached with black farmers under President Bill Clinton in 1999, just two years after the lawsuit was filed. The government has paid damages of $980 million in that case even as it has fought the Indian lawsuit in court.
Like their black counterparts, Indian farmers and ranchers say local USDA officials tried to squeeze them out of business by denying them loans that instead went to their white neighbors and by refusing to restructure loans in bad years as was done for whites.
Their estimate of damages was developed by an economist hired as an expert witness who used government loan and population data.
The economist said Indian farmers lost out on more than $14 billion in loans from 1981 to 2006. The loans would have generated $462 million to $491 million in income, according to the estimate. Joseph M. Sellers, an attorney for the group, said additional data still being developed would likely increase the damages by about 10 percent.
Along with damages, the plaintiffs are seeking changes in the way USDA administers its loan programs, as well as a moratorium on foreclosures against struggling Indian farmers and ranchers. They said they have been encouraged that Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has said recently he is committed to addressing civil rights issues during his tenure.
A USDA spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
The case is named after George Keepseagle, a rancher from Fort Yates, N.D., and a lead plaintiff in the original suit.
American Indians also are seeking billions of dollars from the government in a separate lawsuit that claims they were swindled out of oil, gas, grazing, timber and other royalties administered by the Interior Department since 1887.
