Thursday, June 19, 2008
Farmworker's family sues over California heat-related death


Lawyers for the family of a teenage girl who died last month after working hours in a hot vineyard filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in Merced Superior Court on Wednesday.

The lawsuit alleges Merced Farm Labor and West Coast Grape Farming Inc. – the company that hired Merced to provide workers – are responsible for the death of MarÃ*a Isavel Vásquez Jiménez, who died in Lodi two days after collapsing in a vineyard on May 14.

Labor activists say they want the suit to send a strong message that California farm companies – not just the labor contractors they hire – should be held accountable for conditions that endanger workers.

Witnesses told state labor inspectors the girl worked more than nine hours without shade and was too intimidated to take sufficient water breaks in temperatures that exceeded 95 degrees.

Witnesses also said she was not taken to a medical center for more than 90 minutes after she collapsed.

A San Joaquin County coroner's report released Wednesday confirmed the teen died of job- related heat stroke. At the time of her death, doctors discovered that Vásquez Jiménez was two months pregnant.

Merced Farm Labor attorney Jim Gumberg said Vásquez Jiménez's death was an "unfortunate, unforeseen circumstance," and that the company's version of events will exonerate it. He has said Vásquez Jiménez's fiancé and co-worker, Florentino Bautista, convinced supervisors the girl was sick from not eating.

Harvey Posert, a spokesman for West Coast Grape Farming Inc., said the company has no comment on the suit.

Vásquez Jiménez's mother, Jovita Margarita Jiménez Bautista, who lives in Mexico, is the plaintiff in the suit. Attorneys said neither her place of residence nor her daughter's undocumented status are barriers to filing a civil lawsuit.

"What we're looking for is punitive damages. That's where you really send a message to the farm labor contractors and the grower that this will not be tolerated," said Marcos Camacho, a Bakersfield attorney representing the family. The suit does not seek a specific amount of damages.

Last Thursday, state labor officials shut down Merced Farm Labor, accusing it of failing to train employees to cope with heat – even after the teen's death – and for having falsely claimed it had no outstanding labor violations. In 2006, the labor contractor was fined for failing to have a written heat-stress prevention plan and for not training employees.

"The reason why corporate farms hire labor contractors is not to have to deal with farmworkers themselves and to shield themselves from liability," said Fresno attorney Robert Perez, who also represents Vásquez Jiménez's family.

California state legislators have sparred for years over proposals to extend liability for workers' injuries to farm companies. Bills have repeatedly been defeated, with farm companies arguing that they cannot be legally responsible for subcontractor's mistakes.

With the suit filed Wednesday, Perez said, "We're attempting to broaden the horizons of well- established legal principles" and hold West Coast Grape Farming Inc., responsible for Vásquez Jiménez's death.

"When you are a farmer, you are aware that farmworkers are going to be working on your property," Perez said. "When you invite farmworkers to come onto your property, you have a duty to make sure that they're dealt with in a safe manner."

West Coast Grape Farming Inc. provides grapes to Bronco Wines, one of the biggest wine companies in the United States. The company gained fame in recent years with its low-cost Charles Shaw wines – known as "Two-Buck Chuck."





http://www.modbee.com/local/story/333476.html