Heat victim's family sues contractor

By JENNIE RODRÍGUEZ / Vida En El Valle

(Published Wednesday, June 25th, 2008 08:45AM)

Seventeen-year-old María Isabel Vásquez Jiménez died May 16 of a work-related heat stroke, the San Joaquin County Coroner's Office confirmed in its complete report filed June 17.

The next day, a lawsuit was filed against Atwater-based Merced Farm Labor and West Coast Grape Farming, alleging wrongful death and negligence in the death of Jiménez.

Jiménez died of a heat stroke two days after she collapsed while pruning grapevines for nine hours in a Farmington vineyard operated by West Coast Grape Farming. Jiménez was two months pregnant.

The autopsy filed Tuesday by the county Coroner's Office confirmed that Jiménez's death was an accidental heat stroke due to occupational heat exposure.

United Farm Workers helped Jiménez's mother, Jovita Margarita Jiménez Bautista of Oaxaca, México, seek the civil lawsuit against both companies for punitive damages.

Attorney Robert F. Pérez said there were two reasons for suing: to send a message to contractors and growers of the consequences of violating labor laws and to seek monetary compensation for Jiménez's widowed mother. Before her death, Jiménez was working to send money to Bautista to help support five younger siblings.

Minutes after filing the suit in Merced County Superior Court, Marcos Camacho, the co-counsel representing the family, said, "So far, nothing else has worked. Hopefully, this will prevent more deaths."

According to the autopsy, Jiménez's core temperature was 108 degrees during the initial triage May 14 at Lodi Memorial Hospital, where she was transported by ambulance from Lodi Memorial Urgent Care. Jimenez was "unresponsive," and her condition would not improve, according to the report.

On May 16, she had no blood pressure and died.

The day she was taken to the hospital, staff members discovered that Jimenez was two months pregnant. She had a miscarriage several hours later.

According to the coroner, Jiménez had no significant past medical history. However, the pregnant teen had been complaining of nausea and vomiting for two weeks prior to her death.

Florentino Bautista, her boyfriend, told hospital staff that while he was working, he received a phone call informing him that Jimenez had passed out while jogging, according to the hospital's statement in the report. Bautista said he then left work and took her to the urgent care clinic.

In an interview a week after Jimenez's death, Bautista said a representative from Merced Farm Labor told him to lie to hospital staff about the circumstances surrounding Jimenez's illness. The truth, he said, is Jiménez fainted after working nine hours in the Farmington vineyard in 95-degree weather. He said supervisors did not provide Jiménez with water or training on how to avoid heat illnesses. There was no shade, he said, and the labor contractor did not call for emergency treatment. Bautista and a raitero -- provider of transportation -- drove her to a nearby store, where Bautista unsuccessfully attempted to revive her.

The coroner also reported that Doroteo Jiménez, the teen's uncle who also worked in the vineyard, confirmed that Bautista's account of the events was accurate.

A representative from Merced Farm Labor responded to the allegations in a written statement June 4, stating, "Mr. Bautista ... refused the summoning of medical personnel."

"Bautista assured supervisors that his wife was all right and that this was not a serious medical situation," said Elias Armenta, the company safety coordinator.

The company, which is under state investigation, was stripped of its contractor license, and the Department of Industrial Relations ordered it to stop operating last Thursday.

State law signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2005 requires employers with outdoor employees to provide training on heat-related illnesses, shaded resting areas, four cups of drinking water per person per hour and paid rest breaks of at least five minutes as needed. Employers must also have an emergency plan in place.

Jiménez's death has sparked a statewide call for enforcement of these laws.

United Farm Workers organized a four-day pilgrimage from Lodi to Sacramento. The march culminated at the State Capitol, where advocates held a vigil for Jiménez and announced state legislation, proposed by Assembly Speaker Emeritus Fabián Núñez, that will make it easier for farm laborers to unionize. The bill currently sits in the state Senate for review.

California has intensified its regular labor-law sweeps in the weeks since Jimenez's death.

"Until the farmworkers have a voice without fear of retaliation, unfortunately, this will not stop," said Armando Elenes, a UFW organizer.

Send e-mail to: jrodriguez@recordnet.com.