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Jump to full article: AP, 2005-12-09
Author: the Associated Press
Intro: The U.S. Department of Agriculture has denied claims made by two Virginia farmers in a lawsuit that accused the agency of slashing the growers' tobacco-buyout payments.
William J. Neese and Daniel M. Johnson, who farm burley tobacco in southwest Virginia, filed the lawsuit in September. They claim Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns overstepped his authority by deviating from a formula set by Congress that allocates payments under the $10 billion buyout of tobacco quotas.
In a recent filing in U.S. District Court in Abingdon, the department denies that Johanns was outside his authority. The agency also denies other claims, including the farmers' calculations of money owed to them.
A lawyer and a spokesman for the Department of Justice, which is defending the USDA, declined to comment.
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