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The Ombudsman, Stephen Carpenter and his deputy, Alva Waller,
were appointed by Federal District Judge Paul Friedman to provide an
independent review of the lawsuit implementation process and bring
specific issues and problems experienced by the Black farmer claimants to
the attention of the Judge.
In the report, the Ombudsman states, "As of October 2, 2012,
approximately 39,905 claim packages had been submitted to the Claims
Administrator in Portland Oregon. Also, as of October 12, 2012, out of a
total of 39,905 claim packages submitted, about 33,089 had been
determined by the Claims Administrator to be complete. Class Counsel
lawyers signed Claim Forms for about 12,984 claimants." The
Ombudsman noted, then, that "26,921 were submitted without a Class
Counsel signature."
No mention is made in the report on the number of "neutrals"
reviewing claims or the number reviewed per day or exactly when the
review process will be complete. What the report says on these matters is,
"The next steps in the claims process are for the Claims Administrator to
determine if the claim packages submitted are complete and timely and for
Track A and Track B neutrals to evaluate claims. These evaluations are
well underway. After the evaluations are complete, claimants will be
contacted and eventually payments will be made to claimants. The
implementation of these aspects of the Settlement Agreement will be
considered in future Ombudsman reports."
The report is generally complimentary of the efforts of Class Counsel
and the Claims Administrator to implement the settlement agreement
calling it a "complicated and formidable undertaking."
They say, "In sum, the In re Black Farmers Settlement Agreement
created a demanding process that called for the evaluation and sign-up of
tens of thousands of claimants. We conclude that the parties and neutrals
acted in good faith to implement this phase of the Settlement Agreement."
The report goes into great detail on the implementation of the
settlement but does not answer issues that have been raised by claimants
who have been left out of the settlement and hoped that the Ombudsman
would help to address and correct these problems.