Ruling Forces Livestock Transportation Company to Pay Benefits in Cow Attack

Boise, ID (WorkersCompensation.com) – A livestock transportation broker will have to pay damages to a driver injured by a cow, the Idaho Supreme Court has ruled.

On Sept. 19, the Idaho Supreme Court issued its ruling in Eldridge v. Agar Livestock LLC. In that case, a self-described livestock transportation broker was found to be the statutory employer of a driver injured trying to load a cow onto a delivery truck.

Jason Eldridge was a driver transporting cattle for Meissen Trucking as part of a complex agreement between the company and Agar. As part of the agreement, Meissen retained agar to “procure contracts for the transportation of livestock to be transported by Meissen.” Agar also leased trucks and drivers from Meissen.

On January 18, 2018, Eldridge was driving a truck to pick up a load of cattle from OutWest Dispatch at the Snake River feedlot. As Eldridge tried to load a cow into the truck, it charged him, court documents said, striking him between the shoulder blades, shoving him into a gate, trampling and rending him unconscious. Eldridge said the gat on the chute was difficult to open and close, so when he tried to get away from the cow as it charged toward him, the chute gate would not open and he was trapped. Eldridge was taken to the emergency room and later admitted for several broken bones and bruising on his lung.

Court records show that about two weeks after the accident, Eldridge filed a workers’ compensation complaint against Meissen. Later, after retaining counsel, Eldridge amended his complaint to add Agar, OutWest Livestock and Snake River. In response, Agar’s surety Travelers Property Casualty Company said that Agar was “not insured for worker’s compensation liability under the Idaho Worker’s Compensation Act.” When the case was heard by the Idaho Worker’s Compensation Commission, it found Meissen in default because it had not retained counsel and that the company was Eldridge’s employer. The commission also determined that at the time of the accident Meissen did not carry worker’s compensation insurance, court records indicate.

The commission also found that, based on the parties’ contractual relationship, Agar had contracted for services from Meissen, and that as such, Agar was a category one statutory employer of Eldridge per Idaho’s Worker’s Compensation Act.

Because Eldridge was an employee of Meissen, and Meissen had failed to carry worker’s compensation insurance, according to Idaho law, Agar Livestock was liable for Eldridge’s benefits as his statutory employer.

“A statutory employer is liable for compensation to an injured employee of an employer ‘under’ it if that employer has failed to obtain worker’s compensation insurance as required by Idaho Code,” the court wrote. “If an employer (here, Meissen) has not complied with section 71-301 by failing to provide worker’s compensation coverage, the person who contracted for the employer’s services (here, Agar) is statutorily liable to provide worker’s compensation benefits to the injured employee (here, Eldridge).”

The court said that although Meissen had contracted for services from Agar, Agar had also contracted for services from Meissen, and therefore been a category one statutory employer of Eldridge.

The court affirmed the commissions decision and ruled that Agar is responsible for Eldridge’s costs on appeal.

Forms, email updates, legal, regulatory, and compliance information from Idaho and 52 other jurisdictions across the U.S. can be found on WorkCompResearch.com.

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