Farm Workers Win Round in Court; Labor: Appellate panel voids $3.7-million award won by lettuce grower. A third trial is now possible.: [Home Edition]

In a legal victory for the United Farm Workers union, an appeals court in Arizona on Wednesday threw out a $3.7-million judgment against the union won by a major lettuce grower, the latest twist in a protracted court battle that Cesar Chavez was fighting the day he died.

In a ruling made public Wednesday, the appeals court in Phoenix found that the trial judge in Yuma was wrong in giving jury instructions that were preferential to the Salinas-based Bruce Church Inc. The instructions were hotly contested at the time by Michael Aguirre, a San Diego attorney representing the UFW.

The case will return to Yuma for what would be the third trial if the company continues to press for damages from the boycott against it started by the UFW.

Steve Taylor, chief executive officer of Bruce Church, the nation's third largest grower of lettuce, said the court ruling left him "frustrated and disappointed," and added that...