Farm Worker Accidents
The farming areas of the Bay Area, the Central Valley and the wine producing regions of California are locations where serious accidents occur to farm workers and members of the public. Our firm has been representing injured farm workers since Cesar Chavez achieved success in improving working conditions for farm workers. We have represented farm workers injured by faulty equipment, unsafe working conditions, inadequate supervision and negligent medical treatment. We have achieved successful results for those injured by farm vehicles on public roads, accidents caused by fog, unsafe vans, and negligent truck drivers.
Our Stockton office is conveniently located in the Central Valley near Interstate 5. The address is 2431 West March Lane, Suite 220 and the telephone number is (209) 478-2400. We have achieved successful results and substantial compensation for injured victims in farming communities in Sacramento, Contra Costa, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Fresno, Monterey, Napa, Sonoma and Sutter counties. We have trustworthy experienced Spanish speaking attorneys available to help those victims who do not speak fluent English. Anthony J. (Tony) Gutierrez, a Spanish speaking Mexican American lawyer, born, raised, and educated in the San Joaquin Valley, is a long time associate of our law firm. He has received local, state, and national recognition for his lifetime of work advocating for the rights of Hispanics and migrant farm worker families. He is experienced in handling multimillion dollar personal injury cases involving Spanish speaking clients.
If you or your loved ones have been injured in a farm or agricultural related accident, please call us today for a free consultation.
Examples of our successes:
Injured minor farm worker – $3,454,587
Farm workers in a Daihatsu vehicle making a left turn at dawn on their way to work were struck by a pick-up truck in rural San Joaquin County. The CHP officer investigating the accident determined that the collision was caused by the farm worker. The insurance company for the pick-up truck had limited insurance with Farmers Insurance, who refused to pay the drivers insurance policy limits because they were convinced that the Hispanic farm workers could not win at trial. Our accident reconstruction experts testified that the pick-up driver had been speeding, was inattentive and was a cause of the accident. Our client was an 18 year old passenger who received a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) in the collision. At trial we achieved a settlement of $3,454,587 which Farmers Insurance Company paid. The funds have been placed in an annuity with lifetime payments for medical and living expenses for our client.
Fatigued farm worker causes collision -- $2,500,483 settlement
A mother driving her young children home after school in the family car collided with a grape harvesting vehicle near Valley Springs in San Joaquin County. The driver of the farm equipment was fatigued because his employer required him to work overtime for several weeks and he had been drinking. A seven year old girl was killed and her sisters and mother received severe personal injuries. We successfully held the large wine company employer responsible for the accident. The farm worker had been forced to work long hours and should not have been driving the grape harvesting vehicle on a public road.
Tractor brakes fail – Confidential settlement
A Ford tractor traveling down the steep Oakdale Grade in Napa County picked up speed and went off the road, killing the farm worker operator. The Ford tractor could not be stopped once it reached speeds in excess of twenty-five miles an hour. The tractor driver was not informed about this braking limitation before he started down the steep hill. We claimed the warnings about brake limitations were not adequate and that the grape harvesting employer should not have allowed the tractor to be used on a steep public road. The employer had allowed water to be placed in the two rear tires, causing further instability.
Poorly lighted tractor causes death -- $1,045,000 settlement
After a long day of working in t he fields, a farmer was driving his 1966 John Deere tractor on a Stanislaus County public road in the dark with inadequate lights. The farmer should have driven the tractor back to his farm during daylight. A woman driving a 1999 Hyundai on West Main Street near Crows Landing Road came up behind the slow moving tractor and could not see it in time to slow down. She swerved across the centerline to avoid colliding with the tractor and collided with an oncoming vehicle, causing the death of a passenger. We represented the wife and children of the deceased passenger, a grocery store operator. We claimed the tractor was in violation of the California Vehicle Code for failure to have a red rear light visible from 500 feet away and that the tractor should have been traveling on a 25 foot wide shoulder.
Farm worker burned by downed power line – Confidential settlement
A 17 year old farm worker boy working on a tomato sorter harvesting machine in Fresno County suffered second and third degree burns on 25 percent of his body when he came in contact with a downed power line. A harvester employee had driven his tractor into a power pole, knocking it to the ground. The landowner did not immediately call to have the power turned off or to secure the line and it was down for over 2 hours. The case settled for a confidential amount at trial.
