Legal snare imperils Black Farmers Case

• Doubt arises over woman's credentials in $650 million deal

A $650 million deal to compensate thousands of African American farmers, who alleged bias in U.S. Department of Agriculture programs, could unravel because a Santa Cruz woman worked as a federal attorney on the settlement without ever passing the bar, officials said Saturday. The woman, Margaret O'Shea, 38, also has been charged with grand theft after working for the Monterey County public defender's office earlier this year defending indigents accused of crimes. The county is reviewing all 83 cases she handled there in a three-week period and might dismiss some of them because defendants and court officials mistakenly thought O'Shea was a licensed attorney. An Ohio congressman and two national organizations of black farmers have asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate O'Shea and her follow-up work on a landmark 1999 settlement, Pigford vs. Glickman. The deal has led to thousands of African American farmers receiving funds -- but critics said most claimants were denied aid by federal officials, including O'Shea, who reviewed the claims. The Justice Department also appealed all rulings by an arbitrator that favored farmers. O'Shea might have worked on those appeals. "They are looking into exactly what her role was in the Glickman-Pigford settlement," said Todd Lindgren, spokesman for U.S. Rep Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, chair of the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution. "In the bigger scheme of things, there appear to be major problems with the Pigford settlement, particularly implementation." [more]