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Heat stroke killed farm worker; lawsuit filed
STOCKTON June 18, 2008 2:48pm 
• Coroner issues report in cause of death • Mother of victim sues labor contractor • Updates with clarification of vineyard ownership Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez died as the result of a heat stroke, says a report Wednesday from the San Joaquin County Coroner’s Office.
Ms. Jimenez, 17, two-months pregnant and an undocumented immigrant, collapsed while working in a San Joaquin County vineyard last month. She died May 16, two days after being hospitalized.
Temperatures were about 95 degrees when she collapsed, say investigators.
A lawsuit was scheduled to be filed Wednesday afternoon on behalf of the victim’s mother, says the United Farm Workers Union.
The wrongful death suit in Merced County Superior Court, names Merced Farm Labor, for which Ms. Jimenenz was working, and West Coast Grape Farming Inc., owner of the vineyard.
An attorney for Merced Farm Labor could not be reached for comment. A public relations spokesman for the vineyard, partially owned by some of the owners of Bronco Wine Co. of Ceres but not the wine company itself, said there would be no comment from them.
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