WASHINGTON - A federal judge says he believes American Indian farmers and ranchers are entitled to a fair trial against the federal Agriculture Department over a long-standing discrimination claim but he is urging the Indians' lawyers to restructure their case.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said at a hearing Thursday that it would be a "travesty" if some aging Indians do not live to see the trial. The lawsuit, which accuses the USDA of discrimination in the granting of loans since 1981, was filed in 1999.

Joe Sellers, the lead Washington attorney for the Indian farmers and ranchers, asked the judge for a trial on one part of the case next year and proposed handling the other later. He and other lawyers for the Indians have accused the USDA of stalling on the matter.

Sellers said after the hearing that he is pleased the judge appears receptive to an eventual trial and said he would talk to his clients about how to proceed. Sellers and the lawyers representing USDA agreed to talk to a magistrate to resolve some of their differences, and Sullivan scheduled another status hearing for November.

Indian farmers and ranchers say USDA has denied and delayed loans in an attempt to squeeze them out of business. The lawsuit was granted class-action status in 2001, but the case has floundered in federal court since.

George Keepseagle, a Fort Yates, N.D., rancher, is the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit. Attorneys estimate the number of Indian farmer and rancher plaintiffs could be in the tens of thousands.

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