Oregon Federal Court Grants Summary Judgment To Shipping Customer For Truck Driver’s Injuries
In a case brought by an independent contractor truck driver for injuries he sustained while attempting to deliver an intermodal container packed with scrap foam to a manufacturing company. When he opened the container, two pallets weighing 600 pounds each fell and knocked him to the ground. The plaintiff alleged a premises liability claim against the manufacturing company (the customer), but the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon granted summary judgment to the customer and dismissed the case. The court agreed that a customer receiving a loaded shipping container cannot be liable to a truck driver who injures himself in a way unrelated to any condition of the property under Oregon premises liability law. Summary judgment was appropriate in the court’s opinion because no trier of fact could impose liability on the customer for failing to meet its standard of care owed to the plaintiff given the facts of this case.
