Judgment Against UFW Upheld : Labor: Appeals court rejects union claim that it wasn’t liable for violence in 1979 strike and that even if it was, the $1.7-million award was too high. Further appeal is planned.

Dealing the United Farm Workers a significant legal loss and financial blow, a state appellate court has upheld virtually all of a $1.7-million judgment leveled against the union in connection with a violent 1979 strike against a large Imperial Valley vegetable grower.

The 4th District Court of Appeal, in a decision issued Friday in San Diego, told the union that it must pay all the money except about $1,000 to Maggio Inc. for losses the company suffered during the strike.

Unanimously rejecting union claims that it was not liable for the damages, and that even if it was the damages were excessive, a three-judge panel essentially upheld the award, issued by an Imperial County Superior Court judge in 1987 after a lengthy trial. At the time, the $1.7-million award was the largest judgment ever rendered against the UFW.

With interest, the $1.7 million has since grown to about $2.4 million, lawyers involved in the case said Tuesday. The union’s attorneys promised a further appeal to the California Supreme Court, saying that being forced to pay out that much money would represent a serious financial burden.

“It would be devastating, absolutely devastating,” said Dianna Lyons, a Sacramento lawyer for the union.

The violence-marred strike began in the Imperial Valley in January, 1979, and lasted through the summer. During the strike, UFW striker Rufino Contreras was killed by an unknown assailant, several other picketers were wounded by gunfire and another was hurt when hit by a pickup truck.

During an 11-month trial, Maggio’s lawyers presented videotapes showing large numbers of strikers rushing into the fields carrying clubs and throwing rocks. In May, 1986, Imperial County Superior Court Judge William E. Lehnhardt ruled that the UFW was responsible for the violence. In January, 1987, he set damages, told the UFW to pay up and sparked the UFW’s appeal.

In a 55-page opinion, Judge Daniel J. Kremer said the long trial showed that union leadership, including the strike coordinator and picket captains, were “actively involved in instigating violence.”