They say changing the rules for quota-buyout payments will cost them thousands
Jump to full article: Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch, 2005-09-21
Author: JOHN REID BLACKWELL / TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Intro: Two Virginia tobacco growers have filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of Agriculture's method for determining payments to farmers from the $10 billion national tobacco-quota buyout.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Abingdon, claims U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns exceeded his authority by deviating from the formula Congress approved to calculate payments to farmers.
As a result of the changes, Washington County burley-tobacco growers William J. Neese and Daniel M. Johnson say they will lose hundreds of thousands of dollars.
A lawyer for the farmers, Daniel Caldwell of the Penn, Stuart and Eskridge law firm in Abingdon, said Congress established clear rules for calculating buyout payments. But he said Johanns instead applied a "convoluted formula" that has the effect of benefiting tobacco companies, who are financing the buyout.
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