$89-Million Suit Filed Against Major Grower

Forty-one current and past employees of Ukegawa Brothers Inc., a major North County farming concern, filed a civil suit against the grower Tuesday seeking $89 million in damages for a wide range of alleged abuses, including threats and physical abuse of workers.

The suit was filed in Superior Court in Vista, said Jan E. Culberson, a Chula Vista attorney whose firm is representing the farm workers.

All of the laborers filing the suit are or were illegal aliens from Mexico, Culberson said. He added that some have received temporary legal residence status under the terms of the new immigration law--a situation that the attorney said emboldened them to air their complaints.

Among the allegations is a charge that the Ukegawa Brothers refused to provide the workers with documents that would assist in their claims for legalization until the workers agreed to sign releases pledging that they would not seek back wages owed to them. The documents in question would demonstrate the laborers’ past work history in the United States--an important factor in claims for legalization, or amnesty, under the new immigration law.

Physical Assault Claimed

When the workers refused to sign the releases absolving the company of responsibility for back pay, the suit alleges, the company threatened to fire some workers or their relatives. Ukegawa officials also physically assaulted workers and in some cases withheld paychecks in an effort to coerce them to sign the back pay releases, the suit alleges.

The plaintiffs are among the 73 former and current Ukegawa Brothers laborers who have already filed or plan to file back-pay claims against Ukegawa totaling some $1.5 million, according to Culberson. The claims, dating back several years, are being filed with the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, Culberson said.

Among the 41 workers named in the suit are 20 who have filed or plan to file criminal complaints with Carlsbad and San Diego police alleging that Ukegawa officials threatened them and assaulted them, Culberson said.

William N. Sauer Jr., an attorney representing Ukegawa, declined to comment on the allegations. He said company officials had yet to receive a copy of the lawsuit.

Peter Mackauf, a Ukegawa general manager, has charged publicly that Culberson’s firm was “self-serving” and neglecting the workers’ interest. Mackauf could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Named as specific defendants in the suit were Joe, Jimmy and Dan Ukegawa and David Sanchez, identified as a Ukegawa foreman.

Other Complaints

Among other things, the lawsuit alleges that workers were beaten, threatened, and shot at with pellet guns between August, 1986, and June, 1987. One plaintiff, Guadalupe Ciriaco Consuelo, was shot with 10 pellets on two occasions last November “for no apparent reason,” the lawsuit states.

Another plaintiff, Ramon Delgado Roman, was shot at with a pellet gun twice last August “because he had asked for his payroll check,” according to the lawsuit.

In the past, Ukegawa Brothers has come under fire for their treatment of workers.

Last July, the U.S. Department of Labor filed a civil suit against the firm in U.S. District Court in San Diego seeking an unspecified amount of back wages for workers who were allegedly paid less than the minimum wage of $3.35 an hour. Federal authorities are attempting to negotiate a settlement of the dispute, according to court papers.

In 1984, Ukegawa Brothers agreed to pay $125,000 to settle a suit brought by California authorities, who alleged that some 2,000 workers were underpaid during 1980.