July 20, 2015
In the final months of 2015, Native American law practitioners will look eagerly to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has agreed to hear two cases affecting tribal rights, with the lion's share of attention focused on Dollar General Corp.'s challenge to tribal jurisdiction over a sexual assault case.
July 08, 2015
The Florida Tribe of Cherokee Indians told a D.C. federal court it should offer original parties in a discrimination suit brought by Native American farmers against the United States Department of Agriculture $10 million in punitive damages each, beyond the remaining $380 million still yet to be disbursed.
June 29, 2015
U.S. Department of Agriculture attorneys faced tough questions from a D.C. federal judge Monday over why the agency would agree to one change over $380 million left over from a discrimination settlement with Native American farmers but not sit back down at the bargaining table for more.
June 17, 2015
Rival plaintiffs touted competing proposals to distribute $380 million in unclaimed funds from a USDA farm loan discrimination settlement in D.C. federal court Tuesday, with one group seeking payment to successful claimants and the other arguing the money should go to nonprofits serving Native American farmers and ranchers.
June 04, 2015
The federal government and groups of plaintiffs in a suit alleging the U.S. Department of Agriculture's farm loan program discriminated against Native American farmers traded blows in D.C. federal court Tuesday over how to distribute some $380 million in unclaimed settlement funds.
May 20, 2015
A class representative in a suit alleging that the U.S. Department of Agriculture's farm loan program discriminated against Native American farmers asked a D.C. federal judge Tuesday to redirect some $380 million in unclaimed settlement funds from a cy pres fund back to class members.
May 05, 2015
Despite not being required to do so, a D.C. federal judge said Monday he would allow Native American class members in a suit over an allegedly discriminatory U.S. Department of Agriculture farm loan program to air their concerns about a proposed settlement modification to distribute $380 million in unclaimed funds.
April 23, 2015
A D.C. federal judge on Thursday rejected a bid to remove two Native American class representatives in a suit over discrimination by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's farm loan program, saying the effort came too late and the class members making the request didn't have a right to $380 million in unclaimed settlement funds.
March 23, 2015
Two Native American class representatives in a suit over discrimination by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's farm loan program opposed a bid to remove them on Friday in D.C. federal court, arguing that failing to go along with an agency proposal could jeopardize $380 million in unclaimed funds.
March 21, 2011
Attorneys who helped Native American farmers and ranchers win a $760 million class settlement over bias in the federal farm loan program deserved only about $30 million — half of what they asked for, the federal government said Friday.