Farm worker receives settlement in insecticide-exposure suit

A Wenatchee farm worker has accepted a $53,500 settlement in a case against an orchard and its foreman over the worker’s exposure to a toxic insecticide.

Reynaldo Rodriguez, 39, filed a lawsuit last year, alleging he was fired by the orchard in retaliation for reporting safety violations to the state in connection with the exposure.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Spokane against Bob Mathison Orchards of Wenatchee and Lance Dugan, a foreman who resides in Yakima.

According to the lawsuit, Rodriguez was exposed to Endosulfan in 2005 after Dugan allegedly ordered him to spray cherry trees with a defective respirator or be fired.

Endosulfan is classified as a Category I “highly acutely toxic” insecticide by the Environmental Protection Agency. It is banned in Europe.

While spraying, Rodriguez lifted the visor on his helmet in order to breathe fresh air. But he ended up inhaling the insecticide, which landed on his face. He continued to spray for four more hours before being taken to the emergency room with tremors, blurry vision and tightness in his chest.

In October 2005, the state Department of Labor & Industries fined Mathison $1,800 for safety violations related to the exposure. The next month, Rodriguez was fired.

Mathison and Dugan deny any liability in the settlement. “This was a compromise settlement of a disputed claim,” said Robert Tenney, a Yakima lawyer who represented Dugan.

Joe Morrison, a lawyer with Columbia Legal Services, said the case turned in the plaintiff’s favor after documents obtained in discovery contradicted Dugan’s earlier statements about the defective respirator.

• Leah Beth Ward can be reached at 577-7626 or lward@yakimaherald.com.