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Venters v. Sorrento Delaware2/23/2005
2005 Opinion No. 31
The decisions of the district court granting Defendant Sorrento's and Defendant Montierth's motions for summary judgment are: affirmed.
Kathy Venters and Jonathan Venters, widow and surviving son of Stanley Venters respectively, brought wrongful death actions separately against Sorrento Delaware, Inc. and Montierth Farms, LLP after Stanley Venters was killed in a work-related accident. The district judges in each case granted summary judgment to the defendants, dismissing the Venters' complaints, and we affirm.
I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
Sorrento Delaware, Inc. (Sorrento) operates the Swiss Cheese Factory in Nampa, Idaho, (Nampa facility) and as part of its cheese-making process, produces a large amount of wastewater, for which it must find some use. Sorrento disposes of some of this wastewater by discharging it into on-site holding ponds and onto the farmland surrounding the Nampa facility. However, the quantity of wastewater is such that Sorrento also contracts with farmers in Ada and Canyon counties to dispose of the wastewater on their property. In these contract situations, Sorrento pays the farmer an annual fee to be able to come onto the farmer's property and pump its wastewater into large storage tanks located there. Sorrento owns and maintains the storage tanks and related pumping equipment, and the water is used as an irrigation source for that farmer's land. Sorrento contracts with 3-C Trucking to haul the wastewater from the Nampa facility to the farmers' property, as Sorrento doesn't typically maintain trucks to enable them to transport wastewater. 3-C Trucking contractually agrees to transport as much wastewater as Sorrento has available to the various farmers. Montierth Farms, LLP (Montierth) is one of those local area farmers that entered into a written agreement with Sorrento, agreeing to permit them to build a wastewater facility and to truck wastewater onto the farm site for dispersal.
Stanley Venters was employed as a tanker truck driver by 3-C Trucking on June 30, 2001. On his first day on the job , he was assigned to drive one of the wastewater tanker trucks hauling wastewater from Sorrento's Nampa facility to the Montierth farm. Mr. Venters, in the midst of working his shift, was standing in the unlit staging area on the Montierth site during the pre-dawn hours, waiting his turn to pull in and dump his load of wastewater, when another driver who had just unloaded and was leaving the facility, ran over him. The accident caused serious injuries to Mr. Venters, resulting in his death two days later. At the time of his death, Mr. Venters was covered by worker's compensation insurance through his employer, 3-C Trucking. A claim was made by Mr. Venter's survivors and they received benefits.
On April 10, 2002, Kathy Venters and Jonathan Venters (the Venters) filed separate wrongful death/survivorship complaints against Sorrento and Montierth, alleging tort liability for failure to maintain a safe premises and a safe working environment, which caused Mr. Venters' death. Montierth filed a motion for summary judgment, claiming that as the mere owner of the property where the accident occurred, it owed no duty to the decedent or, alternatively, that its claimed status as Mr. Venter's statutory employer precluded it from civil liability under the exclusive remedy provisions of Idaho's Worker's Compensation Act (the Act). The district court entered summary judgment in favor of Montierth on both bases, with the court specifically finding that the Venters' exclusive remedy against Montierth fell under I.C. ยง 72-223.
Sorrento filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing it too qualified a
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