PALM BEACH POST

September 8, 2005

Citrus grower gets top fine for fatal crash

By Sofia Santana

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

A Fort Pierce citrus grower who sits on the Florida Citrus Commission must pay a fine of $37,000 for failing to provide safe transportation for migrant farmworkers after an overloaded van leased by his company rolled over last year, killing nine workers, the U. S. Department of Labor said Wednesday.

George Pantuso, who owns Circle H Citrus and was appointed to the Citrus Commission last year by Gov. Jeb Bush, had been appealing the fine since it was issued in July 2004.

That was three months after the fatal accident on Interstate 95 near Fort Pierce. Nineteen of his workers were crammed into a 15-seat Ford Econoline van after a day of picking grapefruit in a Sebastian grove. The driver of the van lost control and the van rolled over and into the median.

Pantuso, 46, of Fort Pierce agreed last month to pay the fine. Court documents outlining the agreement Pantuso made with the Labor department do not state why he decided to stop fighting the fine, and he could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

The fine levied against him and his company is the maximum civil penalty for a violation of the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, which Congress passed in 1983.

"These tragic deaths and injuries could have been prevented if the employer had complied with federal and state laws," John McKeon, a Labor Department administrator, said in a release. "Although we have assessed the maximum penalty, it in no way reflects the value of the lives lost."

The fine also applies to an incident that happened 16 days after the fatal accident. A Florida Highway Patrol Trooper stopped a Circle H van, designed to seat 15, that was overloaded with 18 workers, including the driver — another violation of the Act.

Like many migrant workers who come to Fort Pierce, the migrant workers who were killed or injured in the rollover last year were from Mexico. They worked in the region's citrus groves and crop fields so they could send money home to their families. Several of the 10 survivors have returned to Mexico.

The survivors and the families of the men who died all have filed lawsuits against Circle H and the driver of the van, Salvador Leon, who paid a $150 fine after pleading no contest to a traffic citation for an improper lane change.

That was Leon's only citation stemming from the crash after the state attorney's office determined it could not file criminal charges against Leon because the evidence did not show he was driving recklessly.

Many of the lawsuits also name Ford Motor Co., alleging that the company was negligent because it continued selling Econoline vans despite several studies that indicated the vans have a tendency to roll over in certain situations.

Attorneys for the families and survivors said the lawsuits can continue regardless of whether the plaintiffs are in the United States, though those who returned to Mexico probably will be called back to testify.

Staff writer John Lantigua contributed to this story.