Ag-Mart, grower of the popular Santa Sweet grape tomato, "intentionally" violated federal laws that guarantee clean, safe and licensed housing for nearly 2,000 of its migrant farm workers at the company's farms in north Florida, a federal judge has ruled.

The long-awaited ruling in the class-action lawsuit accused Ag-Mart of housing workers during the 2001-2002 growing season in three hotels that were not licensed, often crowded and lacked cooking and laundry facilities. Federal and state laws protect migrant farm workers in four areas - wages, pesticides transportation and housing. U.S District Judge Henry Lee Adams Jr. gave attorneys until May 24 to submit written arguments about how much Ag-Mart should pay in damages for the housing violations.

Greg Schell, attorney for the Migrant Farmworker Justice Project who presented the workers' case during a two-day, non-jury trial nearly three years ago, said he intends to ask for $500,000 for each growing season ñ the maximum allowed by law ñ along with $200,000 to reimburse workers.

"This is important beyond Ag-Mart," Schell said. "Motels are being used increasingly by employers to avoid the expense of operating a migrant labor camp." According to the ruling, Ag-Mart, through its crew leaders, failed to obtain housing permits that require laundry and cooking facilities and set minimum living space requirements. In one hotel, three double beds were crammed into rooms where six workers ñ sometimes men and women who did not know each other ñ were assigned to sleep.

Ag-Mart argued that it should not be held liable because it does not control or provide the workers' housing. Rather, it is the labor contractors who arrange housing and oversee the workers. Ag-Mart was aware of the laws regulating migrant farm worker housing but decided not to obtain inspections and licenses because the company believed that commercial motels were exempt from the housing laws.

Ag-Mart subsidized most of the room rentals, paying about $35-a-night for the workers' rooms at the Motel 8 in Jasper, the Howard Johnson in Jennings and the Best Western in Lake Park, Ga. Only four workers were supposed to be assigned to each room,each paying $25 weekly rental. However, some workers were charged higher rates and others were forced to sleep on the floor when rooms were crowded with more than 4 workers, according to the court ruling.

Other findings in the 30-page ruling: * One motel required workers to remove their shoes before entering their rooms so as not to track dirt. Crew leaders then counted the shoes to verify how many workers were in a room.

* Crew leaders had keys to the rooms and were allowed full access. At one motel, crew leaders enforced a curfew.

* The motels had no or inadequate cooking facilities, leaving many workers no choice but to buy the $6 meals from a "taco wagon." Between the rent and food expenses, "some workers received no net wages whatsoever for a work-week," the judge wrote.

"Although some workers complained about these housing arrangements, the situation continued unabated," the judge wrote. The ruling is not the first time Ag-Mart has been accused of housing violations. As far back as 1999, the company received warning letters about housing and worker safety violations at its farms in North Florida and New Jersey. Each time the company agreed to comply.

In 2002 the U.S. Department of Labor fined Ag-Mart $4,250 for nine violations, including transportation, housing and record-keeping violations at its North Florida operation. A year later, labor inspectors in North Carolina found hundreds of Ag-Mart workers in an unlicensed motel and dilapidated, roach infested homes in 2003. Florida health and agriculture officials launched investigation in 2005 after articles in The Palm Beach Post about three children born within six weeks, all of whom had serious birth defects. All of their parents had worked in fields run by Ag-Mart, which harvests tomatoes in Immokalee, the north Florida town of Jennings and in North Carolina.

Investigators could find no firm link between pesticides and the babies' birth defects. Still, Ag-Mart was charged with 88 violations and fined $111,200 for pesticide and worker safety violations. However, in March an administrative law judge recommended that all but 12 violations be dismissed and the fine reduced to $11,400.

North Carolina officials launched their own investigation in 2005 and cited the company for 369 violations and issued a record-breaking $184,500 fine. In January, a judge also recommended that most of those violations be dismissed and the fine reduced because investigators misinterpreted Ag-Mart's records. Agriculture officials did not accept the judge's ruling and said they would continue to pursue their case.

Although Ag-Mart did not return phone calls on Wednesday, Schell said he expects the company to appeal the judge's ruling in the housing case. In the meantime, the company faces a similar lawsuit about workers housed in unlicensed, crowded motels during the 2003-2006 growing season.

"If this holds up, then Ag-Mart is looking down the barrel of substantially more money," Schell said. "The operations have gotten larger each year. Last year they were using 9 different hotels."