Class Action Sought by Tobacco Growers

Source from:  timesdispatch.com Jan 13, 2006 01/17/2006

Virginia farmers' lawsuit claims buyout payments are too small Two Virginia farmers who claim they are owed money from the federal government's $10 billion tobacco buyout are seeking to have their lawsuit against the USDA certified as a class action. "There has been quite a bit of interest from other growers," said Daniel Caldwell, an attorney with the Penn Stuart and Eskridge law firm in Abingdon who represents the farmers. "We have been in contact and communication with more than 50." Some are from Virginia, Caldwell said, and some are from other states. The lawsuit, filed last year in federal court in Abingdon on behalf of two Southwest Virginia burley tobacco farmers, claims that U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns overstepped his authority by changing the formula to calculate buyout payments. The changes will result in smaller payments to the two growers than they would receive under a formula approved by Congress, the lawsuit contends. If the court approves the request for class-action status, the lawsuit could involve thousands of farmers. "Our view of this case is that the [buyout] statute is very straightforward and very simple," Caldwell said. "The secretary [of agriculture] just made it -- without authority to do so -- overly complicated and way beyond the intent of Congress." Steve Wescott, a Farm Service Agency spokesman in Washington, said the U.S. Department of Agriculture does not comment on pending litigation. Some North Carolina tobacco farmers also claim they have been cheated out of thousands of dollars from the tobacco buyout. "Burley and flue-cured growers got shorted," said Don Smart, a Haywood County, N.C., farmer who started growing tobacco after graduating from college in 1974. "When all was said and done, we lost about 50 cents a pound." But Ted Feitshans, an agricultural attorney at N.C. State University, said the tobacco-buyout legislation appears to limit any federal liability. "I've read the [lawsuit] pleadings and while everybody has a constitutional right to dispute government determinations, those kind of lawsuits are an uphill battle," he said. About 380,000 quota holders and 181,000 producers participated in the buyout, which will pay out $951 million a year for 10 years. Tobacco companies and importers are footing the bill for the buyout, which eliminates price supports in place since the 1930s and allows companies to buy tobacco at a cheaper price. Times-Dispatch staff writer John Reid Blackwell and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Enditem