Big-Rig Driver Sued in Farm Crash

Negligence by a tractor-trailer driver and improper markings on his trailers were to blame for the collision that killed 13 Mexican farm workers in the Central Valley this week, a lawsuit filed Thursday in Fresno Superior Court charges.

The action against the driver and two trucking companies attempts to shift the focus of the devastating accident near rural Five Points, Calif., away from the unlicensed driver of the farm workers’ van and onto the truck that blocked its path before dawn Monday.

The lawsuit came as authorities released the names of the nine men and four women killed in the crash and as the Mexican Consulate in Fresno said it was prepared to begin this morning to send the bodies of some of the victims to Mexico for burial.

The lawsuit charges that truck driver Adrian Medjivar Erazo, 44, negligently cut in front of the van that was carrying 14 workers and a driver home after an overnight shift harvesting tomatoes.

Lawyers for the farm workers said marks at the scene of the accident indicate that the truck may have become stuck in mud or otherwise stopped as it attempted a sweeping U-turn on two-lane Oakland Road.

California Highway Patrol investigators said, however, that their preliminary conclusion is that mud at the side of remote Oakland Avenue was not a factor in the crash.

Erazo has said that he never saw the heavily loaded van because the vehicle had its lights off. Most of the van’s occupants died instantly, thrown off homemade wooden benches with no seat belts.

A CHP official said that, if the lights of the van were off, it is unlikely that Erazo will be charged with any wrongdoing.

The farm workers’ lawsuit also accuses Oropeza Trucking of Gustine, Calif., and Hoffman Brothers Harvesting of Tracy, Calif., of negligence. Lawyers for the workers said that the owner of the tractor and its trailers, respectively, failed to ensure that the truck had enough side reflective devices so it could be seen on a dark roadway.

A woman answering the phone at Hoffman Trucking said that the vehicle had all the proper reflective devices. “My feeling is if the lights were on in the van they would have seen the trailers easily,” said the woman, who declined to give her name.

Oropeza Trucking could not be reached for comment.

Initial accounts of the crash had focused on the driver of the van, Elias Duran Martinez, who was unlicensed and previously had been cited for driving under the influence.

Highway Patrol investigators said they were continuing to look into the lighting issue, as well as many others. They said they planned to question two crash survivors, who remained hospitalized Thursday, about Martinez’s behavior.

The investigators said it will probably be weeks before they assess blame for the crash.

The name of the van driver was one of the 13 released Thursday by the Fresno County coroner’s office. The medical examiner was delayed in publicizing the names because the identification documents on many of the victims were confused.

The ages of some of the dead are still not known. All were Mexican citizens living in Fresno: Epifania Andres Velasquez; Juan Avila Garcia, 54; Alejandro Francisco Norberto; Angelica Arellano Navarette, 35; Carlos Baltazar Florentino, 33; Gerardo Mateos Agustin; Magdalena Baltazar; Gregorio Bravo Ramirez, 48; Gregorio Crecencio Mateos-Martinez, 40; Juan Ramirez, 17; Serafin Hernandez Hernandez, 22; Alvira Perez Ponce, and the driver, Martinez, 26.

At the same press conference announcing the filing of the lawsuit, Dolores Huerta of the United Farm Workers of America called on Gov. Gray Davis to form a task force to find safe transportation for farm workers.

The Bank of the West has created an account to aid survivors of the crash and the victims’ families. Checks can be made to Field Worker Account or account No. 097-299911 and sent to Bank of the West, 2300 Tulare St., Fresno CA 93721.