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Sunday, December 8, 2002
Legal team quickly signs up survivors
Copyright © 2002 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. | ||||||||||
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Also on this page: AMERICAN JOURNEY | |||||||||
The Florida law firm that negotiated one of the largest settlements ever awarded under migrant protection laws plans to file wrongful-death claims for some of the families of the Central American workers killed in Maine's deadliest traffic accident. Searcy, Denney, Scarola, Barnhart & Shipley has been investigating what happened Sept. 12, when a rented 2002 Dodge van taking 15 employees of Evergreen Forestry Services to work plunged into the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, killing all but one. "We're looking into any contributing factors relating to the way that the vehicle was being operated," said lead counsel Jack Scarola. "In addition to that, we are looking at potential defects in the design of the vehicle itself." He said that it's generally recognized that 15-passenger vans like the one in the crash have a high center of gravity that makes them prone to fishtailing, rolling and overcorrection. Maine State Police have said the driver appeared to be speeding when the van pitched off John's Bridge, but have found no problems with the van. The West Palm Beach firm, which specializes in personal injury and products liability, is representing the families of four victims from Guatemala and eight from Honduras, as well as the accident's sole survivor, Edilberto Morales-Luis. The 13 parties share the same personal representative: the Rev. Henry Francis O'Loughlin. Known as "Father Frank," the Catholic priest advocates for migrant workers in Palm Beach County, Fla., and has collaborated with the firm on nine other cases involving the rights of Latin American workers over the last decade. The families of the two remaining victims from Honduras - the driver and a man who had married a Maine woman and settled in Caribou - have sought other representation, Scarola said. The case that brought the firm to prominence bears similarities to the van crash in Maine. In 1991, eight Guatemalan sugar cane workers, including a 15-year-old boy, were going to work in fields owned by Okeelanta Corp., in Florida, when their car flipped into a canal. All but one survived. Investigators learned that the driver did not have a Florida driver's license, a fact that helped lead to a $5.6 million settlement in 1999, one of the largest amounts ever awarded under federal migrant protection laws. Thirty-one members of six families represented by the firm and O'Loughlin each received about $180,000. News of the settlement spread in Guatemala, and when the accident happened in Maine, O'Loughlin said a Catholic priest in La Democracia named Father Roldolfo Gutierrez Martinez contacted him for help. Shortly after the bodies of the Guatemalans were delivered home, O'Loughlin and a Searcy paralegal flew down to meet with the widows. Meanwhile, Greg Reed, a friend of the victims in Maine, learned that Searcy was representing the Guatemalans. After researching the firm, he decided to recommend it to the families in Honduras. "I know that Searcy has a long reputation for true social justice and that nobody else in the country cares about these people," said Reed, a manager at the nonprofit Training Development Corp. in Presque Isle. The firm says it will file wrongful-death claims in the coming weeks. Scarola said the main reason for the firm's involvement is "that we care about these people and we care about the abuses to which they have been subjected." If there is a successful recovery, the firm would reduce fees for the families "in order to make sure that a maximum amount of money gets to these folks," he said. Scarola would not disclose the fees, other than to say that the firm is working on a straight contingency basis, and advancing all costs related to the investigation. "Before this case is over, it'll be hundreds of thousands of dollars," he said. He did say that typical contingency fees in complex products liability cases range from 25 to 45 percent. If there is no reasonable basis to receive claims, the firm will write off expenses as a cost of doing business, he said. Since the 1991 accident in Florida, Congress has relaxed migrant protection laws, said Greg Schell, an attorney for the Florida-based Migrant Farmworkers Justice Project. Today it is tough for a migrant worker involved in a motor vehicle crash to get more than workers' compensation payments from employers, Schell said. That forces the attorneys for the victims' families to find other sources of accountability. But the challenge should not stop Scarola and his team of lawyers, he said. "They're not only creative, but they're very good lawyers," he said. Beth Murphy, staff researcher, contributed to this story. Staff Writer Josie Huang can be contacted at 791-6364 or at:
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