Growers blame Global Horizons for labor violations
The lawyer for two Lower Valley growers held liable for damages in a lawsuit brought by farm workers said the judge's order erred on several points and that he will file motions to argue that it should be reversed. Ryan Edgley, who represents Valley Fruit Orchards of Wapato and Green Acre Farms of Harrah, also said the order was a response to a motion by the farm workers that he couldn't reply to because of a medical condition. "I'll be submitting papers to the court explaining my medical condition and submitting a response because I think it's inappropriate to determine damages on summary judgment," Edgley said in a voice-mail message left Thursday evening. Senior U.S. District Judge Alan McDonald awarded more than 600 Yakima Valley farm workers nearly $1.9 million in damages in a class-action lawsuit against the growers and Global Horizons, a national labor contractor. The damages amount to about $2,000 to $4,500 per worker. Edgley said he will also question why the judge applied the damages across the board to all workers. Not all of them were affected by the violations that Global has conceded took place, he said. John Verbrugge of Valley Fruit said most of the violations of labor law found by the judge were Global's fault. "99.99 percent of the issues are Global's," Verbrugge said Friday. In the lawsuit -- filed in 2005 by Columbia Legal Services -- the farm workers alleged that the growers and the contractor illegally and intentionally displaced them in 2004 with foreign guest workers from Thailand. Global Horizons has since lost its license to do business in the state because of other violations. |