Historic Victory in African American Reparations Lawsuit

African American reparations case wins appeal by KAREN JUANITA 21 December, 2006

The appeal has been won for the national class action lawsuit for African American reparations. The case of Farmer-Paellmann, et al. v. Brown & Williamson, et al. has been remanded by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago; it will proceed on the basis that the defendants have violated consumer fraud statutes by not disclosing their corporate history in, and profits from, African enslavement.

“We applaud this historic reparations victory that has taken over 141 years to achieve,” lead plaintiff Deadria Farmer-Paellmann said in a statement. “We want the world to understand that this is not just about an institution of slavery. It is about 10-year-old Mary Jane, enslaved with the help of Aetna Insurance Company. It is about an infant boy labeled ‘mulatto’ who was made a slave by his father who was also his master who financed the building of RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company, and it is about James Moody, forced to work in toxic coal pits with help from New York Life Insurance Company.

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