Kin to Be Paid in Farm Workers’ Crash

The families of 13 tomato pickers killed in a crash returning home from work and two survivors are eligible for more than $2 million after a judge ruled that their commute was covered under workers’ compensation.

In a decision made public Friday by the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board, a judge ruled that the farm workers were exceptions to a “going and coming” rule that prevents commuters from collecting workers’ comp benefits.

Green Valley Ag, a farm labor contractor, and Terra Linda Farms were found liable to pay workers’ compensation claims and death benefits to the victims of the Aug. 9, 1999, crash in Five Points, west of Fresno.

“It’s been something that I’ve been waiting for,” said crash survivor Lucila Gonzalez, 23, who had several surgeries to repair her liver. “I cried a lot. They had to take me to the bathroom and shower me. I couldn’t move for three months.”

The workers were headed home in the early morning when their van slammed into a big-rig truck that was making an illegal turn, killing all but two of the tomato pickers.

The crash spurred reform of farm worker transportation vehicles, requiring seats and seat belts in vans.

Judge Stephen Webster said the survivors could collect workers’ comp because they were required to use the labor contractor for transportation and the labor contractor and the grower benefited from the provided transportation.

Each family will be entitled to $200,000 in death benefits, said Robert Perez, the farm workers’ attorney. The companies also will pay past medical bills and medical benefits for life.

Gonzalez’s bills totaled $1.1 million.

Javier Alabart, a lawyer for Green Valley Ag and its insurance company, didn’t know if his clients would appeal.

He said the case was difficult because the law is slanted in favor of the workers and because the facts were so horrible.

“It’s a heart-wrenching case because you have relatively young people, hard-working individuals working for minimum wage, with families here or in Mexico and they’re dead,” Alabart said. “There’s not much you can do about that.”

Alabart emphasized that the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board is a no-fault system and that the judge did not blame the contractor or the farm.

In a final comment, however, the judge made a scathing remark about conditions for farm workers.

“We, as a society, should be ashamed to allow our fellow human beings to be treated in this disgraceful and obscene manner,” Webster said.

Arturo Rodriguez, United Farm Workers union president, said he hopes legislation will be passed to protect the health and safety of the workers.

The union has tried unsuccessfully three times to get legislation passed to make growers and farm labor contractors jointly liable for accidents on the job.

“It’s not too much to ask that employers, like any other employers in the nation, be responsible for the lives of their employees,” Rodriguez said.

Francisco Arellano, whose wife, Angelina, died in the accident, said he would have liked to have seen safety measures in place.

“I don’t care about the money,” Arellano said, angrily fighting back tears.

“How’d you feel if your [spouse] died? My children talk about their mother all the time.”