Workers Can Sue Growers Over Unsafe Housing

The state Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed farm workers who live in shanties provided or maintained by growers to sue their employers for injuries caused by unsafe housing conditions.

Over the dissents of Justices Marvin Baxter and Janice Rogers Brown, the court denied review of a lower-court ruling in July that reinstated a damage suit against a San Diego County grower over a fire that killed one farm worker and injured another.

The appellate court said a jury should decide whether the grower provided or maintained the ramshackle hut and, if so, whether any safety violations were causes of the fatal fire. The ruling now becomes binding on trial courts statewide.

The fire broke out in January 1994 in a shack on a strawberry farm leased and operated by Ichiro Kosha near Camp Pendleton. Humberto Barcenas, 37, of Oaxaca, Mexico, a father of five, was killed. The fire spread to the nearby hut of Manuel Reyes, who was badly burned.

The fire was probably started by a candle, said Terry Singleton, the plaintiffs’ lawyer. Kosha provided no electricity to the encampment in a ravine where 50 to 70 workers lived rent-free in shacks made of cardboard, wood and plastic.