A Texas construction company that was one of scores across the country whose employees have died after trenches they were working in collapsed, reached a plea deal Tuesday with prosecutors.
Austin-based D Guerra Construction LLC agreed to plead guilty in connection with the death of Juan José Galvan Batalla, 24, of Bastrop, Texas. The company was indicted last year after he and another worker were installing a residential water line in Travis County in October 2021 when the 13-foot-deep trench caved. The trench had also faced a partial collapse earlier in the day, and both were told to return anyway. Galvan Batalla died a week after the collapse due to traumatic asphyxia, according to the Travis County Medical Examiner's Office. The other worker was seriously injured.
"At the end of the day, we simply cannot tolerate employers in Travis County who create such unsafe work conditions that people who work can become seriously injured or die," Travis County District Attorney José P. Garza said in an interview on Tuesday with Texas Public Radio.
The construction company did not return a call seeking comment.
A Travis County grand jury last fall indicted D Guerra Construction LLC and a company supervisor, Carlos Alejandro Guerrero, on criminally negligent homicide charges. The company pleaded guilty in July to a lesser charge — assault causing bodily injury, a misdemeanor. The case against Guerrero is ongoing.
Garza said it was the first time since the early '90s that a corporation had pleaded guilty over a worker's death in Travis County. When announcing the indictments in 2024, he cited an NPR, Texas Public Radio and 1A investigation that year, which found that 250 people died between 2013 and 2023 when trenches they were working in collapsed. Experts said the deaths were preventable. The investigation also found that only 11 employers were criminally charged in instances where workers died. Most offenders got off with a fine, probation or little jail time.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) found in 2022 that Galvan Batalla's employer was at fault for his death, fined the company nearly $140,000, and referred the case to local prosecutors for potential criminal prosecution.
The OSHA investigation found that the construction company failed to implement required safety systems like a trench box and failed to train workers on the hazards of working in trenches. OSHA defines trenches as narrow excavations deeper than they are wide. All trenches deeper than five feet require safety systems like a trench box, a pair of metal walls attached by metal rods that keep trenches stable and prevent soil from falling onto workers.
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Rosa Isela Batalla Morales, the victim's mother, said she was satisfied with the plea deal.
"Although nothing will bring him back, I think this will help many people who work in construction," she said. "Construction companies should be more careful with their staff and not let them enter without protection just for the sake of fulfilling a contract."
D Guerra Construction LLC's plea deal includes a pre-sentencing agreement that, if completed, will allow them to avoid a significant financial penalty. It requires the company to implement a series of new safety trainings for construction workers and supervisors and implement new safety processes, including an anonymous reporting method for workers' safety concerns. They must also hire two new full-time safety employees, and an independent safety monitor approved by the prosecutor's office to review its new processes over the next year.
"What is really important to us, and what was really important to the family, is that we had processes in place to try to change the culture of this workplace," Garza said. "There will be specific training for trenches and how to prevent trench collapse."
Garza said that he hoped the case would prompt other Travis County employers to protect their workers.
Batalla Morales said that although nothing can bring back her son, she is pleased that the matter has been resolved.
"All I asked for was justice," she said. "I never asked for anything bad for anyone.
"I think I've had justice," she said. "It did comfort me a little that the company said 'yes, I'm guilty,' because they were guilty–for me–and now they're guilty before the law."
This story is a collaboration from NPR's Station Investigations Team, which supports local investigative journalism, and Texas Public Radio.
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