SOMIS : Civil Suit Against Rancher Postponed

A civil lawsuit against the owner of a Somis flower ranch charged with enslaving workers has been delayed by a federal judge who ruled that the suit could interfere with the government’s criminal prosecution of the rancher.

In his ruling in Los Angeles, U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr. agreed with prosecutors who argued that allowing the civil lawsuit to proceed would give defense attorneys access to witnesses that could hurt the criminal case against Edwin M. Ives, 53, of Los Angeles.

Ives, owner of the Griffith-Ives Co., and seven of his former employees have been charged in a 15-count federal indictment with violating civil rights, labor and anti-slavery laws.

Three civil lawsuits, including one in Ventura County Superior Court, have also been filed.

They seek hundreds of thousands of dollars in back wages.

The suits allege that for at least seven years an Ives-led ring smuggled laborers from rural Mexican villages to the Somis ranch, kept them there under threat of deportation and made them work six days a week for about $1 an hour.

The criminal trial is set for March.