Idaho High Court Affirms Decision for Man Injured by Charging Cow

A “livestock load brokerage service” has been declared the “category one statutory employer” of a truck driver who was headbutted and trampled by a cow while loading the animal into a truck. The case is Eldridge v. Agar Livestock, 2022 Ida. LEXIS 115 (Idaho 2022). 

Meissen Trucking (Meissen) entered a series of intricate brokerage and lease agreements with Agar Livestock, LLC (Agar) where Agar would “procure contracts for the transportation of livestock” and pass them on to Meissen. Though the brokerage agreement specified that Agar did not employ Meissen and that Meissen was an independent contractor, it also stated throughout the agreement that Meissen “transport[ed] livestock for Agar.”