Guatemalan man's estate entitled to redress after court says death was linked to work

CTV News

5 days ago

The Quebec Court of Appeal is seen in Montreal, on Saturday, March 29, 2025. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)
MONTREAL — Quebec's Court of Appeal has ruled that the family of a Guatemalan farm worker crushed to death in 2021 trying to repair a flat tire on his employer's car is entitled to compensation.
The high court ruled in majority 2-1 decision that Ottoniel Lares Batzibal was on the job when he died and his estate should have been compensated.
Previously, Quebec's workers health and safety board, the CNESST, had denied the claim because they didn't believe the death fit the criteria of a workplace death.
The estate eventually was granted leave to appeal the matter before the Court of Appeal.
In the July 31 ruling, two of the three-judge panel ruled the worker's death was an occupational injury and the appeal should be allowed.
Batzibal died on July 18, 2021, after becoming trapped under a car in the garage of a fruit and vegetable farm south of Quebec City where he'd worked for several years.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 7, 2025.