Summary of a Recent
Judicial Development in
Conservation Programs

Breach of Contract Action Involving
Conservation Reserve Program Dismissed

Chuck Munson
National AgLaw Center Graduate Assistant

In Barrientos v. United States, No. L-05-163, 2006 WL 2414348 (S.D. Tex. Aug. 14, 2006), the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas held that a plaintiff enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program had failed to exhaust all administrative remedies in his claim for breach of contract against the United States Department of Agriculture. Id. at *1-3. The court also held that the government had not waived its sovereign immunity as it related to the plaintiff's tortious interference claim because under 28 U.S.C. § 2680(h) the government does not waive its sovereign immunity for "interference with contract rights." Id. at *3. In addition, the court rejected the plaintiff's request for a declaratory judgment that "the manner in which the Contract was administered . . . and breached" was "unconstitutional as a violation of Plaintiff's due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment." Id. at *3. Finally, the court rejected the plaintiff's Motion for Leave to File Second Amended Complaint so that he could add claims for negligence and fraud. Id. at *1-4.

The case was decided on August 14, 2006; this summary was posted Nov. 27, 2006.