• Dismantling White Supremacy

Hector Luna, et al. v. Del Monte Fresh Produce (Southeast), Inc., et al.

Case Number: 06-21015
Date Filed:
April 21, 2006
Date(s) of Disposition:

none

Court where filed:
United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida
Plaintiffs:
Hector Luna, Julian Garcia, Santos Maldonado and Bartolo Nuñez, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated
Defendants:
Del Monte Fresh Produce (Southeast), Inc. and Del Monte Fresh Produce N.A., Inc.
Co-Counsel:

Greg Schell, Migrant Farmworker Justice Project, Florida

Luna v. Del Monte Fresh Produce

Migrant farmworkers in south Georgia claimed they were grossly underpaid while working for subsidiaries of the food giant Del Monte Fresh Produce. The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a lawsuit in 2006. A confidential settlement with 63 workers was approved on April 15, 2010. The defendants did not admit liability.

Many of the plaintiffs, who are indigent, left their homes and families and spent considerable sums of money to travel to Georgia for this work. Some were farmworkers recruited from Mexico under H-2A guestworker visas that permit them to work only for the employer requesting them. The workers were promised, and entitled to receive under federal law, wage rates set by the U.S. Department of Labor.