Judge Considering Fraud Claims in Banana Workers’ Suit Says She Was Threatened
A Los Angeles judge considering fraud allegations in a lawsuit by Nicaraguan banana workers says she has been threatened, and so have witnesses in the case.
Judge Victoria Chaney told of the threats on Monday after a closed-door meeting with lawyers, according to the Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press. The case is related to a suit Chaney dismissed last year after finding that most of the plaintiffs, who claimed sterility from pesticides, never even worked on farms owned by the defendant, the Dole Food Co., AP says.
“Statements made in radio broadcasts and a press conference were pretty direct against me, or this court,” said Chaney, who is considering a motion to dismiss a $2.3 million verdict won in 2007 by six banana workers. She is now an appellate judge, but she returned to the superior court to hear the motion.
Chaney said the threats were made in Nicaraguan broadcasts, and that others threatened included multinational corporations and secret witnesses who told of fraud.
‘This appears to be flagrant witness tampering,” Chaney said. ”I have even more grave concerns about witness safety than I did before.”
Chaney said the witness tampering did not involve the plaintiffs’ U.S. lawyer, Steve Condie. Outside court, Condie said he didn’t interpret the statements cited by the judge as threats, the AP story says.
