Hector Luna, et al. v. Del Monte Fresh Produce (Southeast), Inc., et al.
Case Number
06-21015
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.