Two years after the Los Angeles Times ran a lengthy story on the plight of some banana plantation workers and the heroics of one Los Angeles plaintiffs' lawyer, the paper today published an entirely different account on its front page.
The plaintiffs' lawyer, Juan J. Dominguez, now stands accused by a judge of participating in a broad conspiracy built on phony claims that Nicaraguan banana workers had become sterile from exposure to a pesticide used on banana plantations in the 1970s, according to the paper.
Cases that Dominguez expected would go to trial this year have been thrown out. A $3.2-million jury verdict on behalf of six plaintiffs in 2007 is likely to be overturned.
Dominguez, 52, continues to protest his innocence, but he faces investigations by the State Bar of California and scrutiny by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The story details Dominguez's campaign to recruit and manage plaintiffs.
Jose Francisco Gutierrez Fletes, 58, who worked as a "captain" to recruit and manage plaintiffs, told the Times he faced constant pressure from Dominguez's office to deliver more. "We had to keep bringing people in," he said.
In a 2008 deposition, plaintiff Francisco Donald Quinonez testified that one of Dominguez's captains had trained him "like a parrot" to recite facts about the farm.
On Saturdays, Dominguez would go on national radio to talk about his efforts. He liked to be introduced as a "super lawyer."
Now, Dominguez is going to need his own "super lawyer" to face the accusations in the case, which were deftly unraveled by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Victoria Chaney in April.
Dominguez and other plaintiffs' attorneys had set out to find legitimate claims but turned to fraud when they found few, Chaney wrote. What resulted was a "heinous" scheme "cemented together by human greed and avarice," she said in making her ruling.
Read CJAC's earlier coverage of the case by clicking here, here, and here.