MOORPARK : $1.2 Million Awarded in Ranch Accident

After losing sight in one eye and undergoing reconstructive surgery, a 42-year-old Oxnard man has won $1.2 million for injuries he suffered in an accident on a Moorpark ranch two years ago, officials said.

After deliberating for three days, a Ventura County Superior Court jury on Thursday awarded the money to Rodolfo Ramirez and found the owners of the AA Ranch partially responsible for the accident.

Ramirez was injured June 18, 1992, when the metal lid on a pressurized irrigation tank flew off and struck him in the face. As a result, he lost vision in his left eye and has undergone 10 operations on his face, according to his attorney, David Drexler.

At the time of the accident, Ramirez worked as a driver for California Ag Resources Inc., a liquid fertilizer company, Drexler said. After Ramirez delivered fertilizer to the AA Ranch and transferred it to a large holding tank owned by California Ag, the chemical began leaking from the 250-gallon tank, he said.

Ramirez placed a bucket under the leak and then tried to open a 35-gallon pressurized, ranch-owned tank and pour the chemical into it, Drexler said. As he loosened a bolt on the tank, the metal lid flew off and struck him in the face.

Ramirez’s attorney, David Drexler, said there were no signs on the tank warning that its contents were under pressure.

“The ranch owners claim they never left this system pressurized. They denied the accident happened the way (Ramirez) said it did,” Drexler said.

The ranch is owned by Henry Alejo, who could not be reached for comment.

The jury in Judge William Peck’s courtroom voted 9 to 3 to award $1.2 million to Ramirez. Along with finding the owners of the AA Ranch negligent, the jury also found that Ramirez and his employer were partly at fault. Ramirez has already received $150,000 from his employer for medical bills, rehabilitation and lost wages.