Farmworkers killed in Madera were ‘required’ to use unsafe ride system, suit says
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- Families and survivor sue Lion Farms and supervisor for negligent transport.
- Complaint alleges unlicensed drivers, falsified registrations and worker fees.
- Lion Farms court filing says workers’ own negligence was cause of damages in complaint.
The sole survivor and the family members of six of the seven farmworkers killed in a Madera crash last year are suing their employer and a company supervisor for negligence they say led to the deadly collision.
A second amended complaint against Selma-based Lion Farms, filed in Fresno County Superior Court, describes an unsafe and exploitative worker transportation system allegedly coordinated by a company supervisor, Ruben Ojeda Chino, according to the lawsuit. He bought cheap and old vans, registered them under a false name and knowingly assigned unlicensed drivers to operate them, the complaint alleges.
He also charged workers a daily fee for the rides, though they had no other way of getting to work, the complaint alleges.
Chino “required employees to utilize those vehicles to get to and from work at Defendant Lion Farms,” the complaint says. “Lion Farms knew or should have known about the conduct of its supervisory employee.”
The families’ Sept. 22 lawsuit against Lion Farms, originally filed in February, stems from one of the deadliest crashes involving farmworkers in the Central Valley in recent years.
Early in the morning of Feb. 23, 2024, eight farmworkers were heading west on Avenue 7 in Madera when their 2001 GMC Safari van was struck head-on by a lone driver who California Highway Patrol determined had swerved into the wrong lane. Only one person survived the crash: Benito Perez, who was riding in the farmworker van.
CHP concluded only two of the farmworkers were wearing seatbelts. The U.S. Department of Labor concluded Chino had knowingly assigned an unlicensed driver to use the van to transport the workers to a Lion Farms property the morning of the crash, according to a federal lawsuit against Lion Farms filed earlier this year. The feds accused the company and its owners — Bruce Lion, Alfred Lion and Daniel Lion, according to the federal complaint — of ignoring federal farmworker transportation safety requirements while their crew supervisor coordinated worker rides. The company settled the federal case in August for $128,899.50.
The Fresno Bee did not receive a response to its request for comment for this story from the attorneys for either side of the Fresno County case. But Univision reported in July that Perez and families of the farmworkers killed are seeking $20 million in compensation from the lawsuit against Lion Farms and Chino.
In filings responding to previous complaints in the case, Lion Farms has denied “each and every” allegation made by the plaintiffs. The company, its response filings show, says “negligence and carelessness” on the part of Perez and the deceased farmworkers “caused and contributed to the damages complained of, if any there were.”
Both sides have requested a jury trial, which is scheduled to begin in January 2027.
Lion Farms supervisor ran exploitative transportation system, complaint alleges
According to the complaint, Chino “had the power and authority” to make decisions on behalf of Lion Farms as he hired farmworkers and coordinated their transportation to provide the company’s labor. Many of the workers — who Chino allegedly required to use the ride system — arrived directly from Mexico with “little to no money and no means of transportation to work,” the document says.
Chino charged them $13 per ride and collected the fees himself on a weekly basis, the complaint alleges.
The supervisor owned about 10 vehicles, the complaint alleges, used to transport the workers to and from Lion Farms properties. He paid between $1,500-$2,500 cash for the vans, which he purchased “as-is” from members of the community, the complaint says.
“Chino admittedly registered the vans, including the Safari Van, under a false name in a deliberate effort to avoid liability to himself and Defendant Lion Farms should anything go wrong,” the complaint alleges.
According to the document, Chino “intentionally concealed” from employees that farmworker drivers were not legally licensed — including Victor Cirilo Hernandez, who was operating the farmworker van struck in the deadly Madera crash. Chino’s system was devoid of any safety policies, the complaint says. Many farmworkers, the complaint says, are from rural regions of Mexico, where federal law only began requiring seatbelt use for all passengers in a vehicle in 2022.
“Lion Farms ratified the conduct of its supervisory employee, Defendant Chino, in allowing the unsafe practices and conduct of Defendant Chino to continue with full authority to procure and provide labor to Defendant Lions Farms regardless of the obvious and heightened safety risks involved,” the complaint says.
Lion Farms filing says ‘100%’ of negligence was on part of farmworkers
In a filing responding to a previous amended complaint by the plaintiffs, Lion Farms said “100%” of the negligence in this case was on the part of Perez and the farmworkers killed.
Working seatbelts were available, and the workers failed to use them, the company’s filing says.
The workers “failed to exercise ordinary care for their own safety and well-being,” the filing says. “That failure to exercise ordinary care proximately and directly caused and/or contributed to the alleged illness and injury pled in the Complaint.”
Among other defense arguments, Lion Farms says in its filing that any damages were a result of an “unavoidable accident” — one in which Cirilo Hernandez, the driver of the farmworker van, was not at fault.
The accident, “as such, was an act of God without fault or liability” on the part of the company, the Lion Farms filing says.
This story was originally published October 2, 2025 at 2:28 PM.
