Farmworkers take a stand, suing trucking companies in van crash

FRESNO, Calif. - The families of the 13 tomato pickers killed when their van slammed into a big rig on a narrow rural road filed a lawsuit Thursday, accusing the truck driver and two trucking companies of negligence.

The complaint is one of the most aggressive legal actions ever taken to address the dangerous conditions workers endure on the way to the fields, an issue politicians and labor advocates have ignored for years, said their lawyer, Robert Perez.

"This accident has brought the issue to the conscience of the community," said Perez, noting that Monday's crash made news even on the East Coast. "This being a national issue now, there's going to be a lot more pressure now than previously."

An average of 10 farmworkers die each year in traffic accidents, practically a summer ritual in farming areas in California and across the nation. Yet the law still allows workers to be transported without seatbelts in vehicles hollowed out to increase capacity.

Advocates gave up trying to lobby the agribusiness-friendly administration of former Gov. Pete Wilson, said Tanis Ybarra, the national vice president of the United Farm Workers of America.

"Nothing ever happened because Wilson was in bed with the farmers," Ybarra said. "Here now, with 13 dead bodies, we're finally seeing the public outrage."

Buoyed by Gov. Gray Davis' help following the devastating December citrus freeze, farmworker advocates are hoping the issue won't be ignored any longer.

"We had no access to Wilson, whatsoever," said Dolores Huerta, the UFW's co-founder. "We have a new governor, and the people he has in place have the will to do something in this area. I can assure you, we're not going to let it fall off the plate."

Meanwhile, Perez; Fernando F. Chavez, the oldest son of UFW founder Cesar Chavez; and their partner Frederico Sayre hope to address some common farmworker transportation problems in court.

While the California Highway Patrol is still investigating the accident and has yet to assign blame, Perez says the truck driver was making an unsafe turn and the trailer should have been outlined with reflective tape.

Named as defendants are the big rig's driver, Adrian Erazo, who was making a U-turn when the van struck his second trailer; his employer, Raul H. Oropeza, sole proprietor of Oropeza Trucking; and Hoffman Bros. Harvesting Inc. of Tracy, owner of the trailers.

A message left for Hoffman Bros. was not immediately returned. There is no listing for Oropeza Trucking in the area.

The lawsuit doesn't name the owner of the van, which had been modified with two carpeted benches in back to accommodate more workers, who were usually charged $6 a day for the 80-mile round trip from Fresno to Five Points.

Guadalupe Marin, whose two cousins were killed, said the van owner is the only person he blames for the accident.

"He gave the van to someone who had problems with DMV in the past," Marin said through a translator. "I don't think anyone else is responsible."

While the truck driver had a clean driving record, the van driver, who was killed in the crash, was unlicensed. His driving privileges were revoked because of several violations, including not wearing a seatbelt and a drunk-driving arrest. Also, the van had not had its required annual certification since 1997, the highway patrol said.

The lawsuit can always be amended to add other parties, but going after the van's owner would be like "trying to get blood from a turnip," Perez said.

The truck and trailer companies have deeper pockets - and there is some federal legislation that could apply to the lawsuit, which was filed in Fresno County Superior Court.

New federal rules require all trailers made after 1993 to be rimmed along their bottom edge with red-and-white reflective tape or so-called reflex reflectors, like the red plastic ones on bicycles. This June, trailers made before 1993 were given two more years to install similar warning tape or reflectors.

Perez said he doesn't know what year the trailers were built, but said this doesn't matter. "Simply because the federal law doesn't require it, that doesn't mean it's not negligent," he said.

As for other potential defendants, such as the farmer who hired the crew or any labor contractor who arranged the transportation, the families may pursue separate workers compensation claims, Perez said.

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