Buckley v. Am. Fast Freight, Inc.

444 P.3d 139
CourtAlaska Supreme Court
DecidedJune 21, 2019
DocketSupreme Court No. S-16693
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 444 P.3d 139 (Buckley v. Am. Fast Freight, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Alaska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Buckley v. Am. Fast Freight, Inc., 444 P.3d 139 (Ala. 2019).

Opinion

BOLGER, Chief Justice.

*141I. INTRODUCTION

A worker for a temporary employment service was injured while working for a shipping company. At the time of injury he was performing a task prohibited by the contract between the temporary employment service and the shipping company. The injury resulted in loss of the worker's hand and part of his arm. After getting workers' compensation benefits from the temporary employment service, the worker brought a negligence action against the shipping company and one shipping company employee. The superior court decided on cross-motions for summary judgment that the exclusive liability provision of the Alaska Workers' Compensation Act (Act)1 barred the action. We reverse the grant of summary judgment because material issues of fact preclude it.

II. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

John Buckley started working for Labor Ready, Inc., a temporary employment service, in 2009. According to Buckley, workers would go to the Labor Ready office in the morning for assignments, and "there would be some days that [they] would be sent out and some days when there would be no work." Workers with assignments were given a "ticket" that they presented to the company using Labor Ready's services. Labor Ready employees could get "repeat" tickets when a contracting employer wanted Labor Ready to send those employees again, but Labor Ready did not always honor such requests. Labor Ready workers had to get approval from Labor Ready to work for a specific customer even if the customer and the worker both wanted the worker to continue to work for that customer.

The "conditions of service" on the ticket prohibited Labor Ready employees from engaging in specified activities without Labor Ready's "prior written consent." For purposes of this case, the important restriction was that Labor Ready workers were not allowed "to operate dangerous machinery, mobile equipment or vehicles." Labor Ready paid the worker and provided workers' compensation coverage. The customer was required to determine whether Labor Ready's workers were qualified for the particular work assignment "during the first two hours of work" and "inform Labor Ready of any changes in work assignment." The contract provided that Labor Ready's employees were "under Customer's supervision, direction and control" and required the customer to provide safety equipment, information, and briefing to Labor Ready's employees. The contract did not specifically provide that a customer could fire a worker supplied by Labor Ready.

Labor Ready's workers did not have to report for work every day; as Buckley put it, it was "up to you to go." He testified that Labor Ready employees could call beforehand to let Labor Ready know they would not be there, but if employees did not, Labor Ready "didn't really care" and would "put somebody else" on the job. Buckley, for example, did not work for several weeks in 2011 because he was helping care for his mother.

During the time he worked for Labor Ready, Buckley reported to Labor Ready's office in the morning and picked up a ticket with his job assignment. Buckley prided himself on being a good worker and testified that Labor Ready at times sent him to work for new clients to impress the clients even if another client had requested Buckley for those days. In late 2011 Labor Ready at times assigned Buckley to work at American Fast Freight as a general laborer; he worked 17 non-consecutive days for American Fast Freight during the six weeks preceding the accident underlying this case.

Buckley enjoyed his work with American Fast Freight; "the goal was that [Buckley] wanted to go to work as an employee of American Fast Freight ... and American Fast Freight was hoping to hire [him]." But Buckley also testified that Labor Ready had sent him to work elsewhere, even when American Fast Freight had requested him. When he worked for American Fast Freight his job mainly involved loading and unloading *142freight. On any given day he might work in the warehouse or be assigned to a particular truck to accompany the driver for deliveries. During the time Buckley was assigned to American Fast Freight he got to know some of the drivers and had established relationships with some of them. Buckley indicated he could refuse to work with a truck driver there and that he had done so.

On December 22, 2011, Labor Ready assigned Buckley to work at American Fast Freight. A driver, Denny Hawkins, told Buckley to come with him to deliver freight in the Wasilla area. Buckley grabbed "[his] stuff" - his "stuff" included a box knife, warm clothes, and an extra pair of gloves - and went out to Wasilla with Hawkins. After they completed their deliveries, Hawkins told Buckley he would treat him to lunch. Hawkins told American Fast Freight's dispatcher that he and Buckley were headed to lunch. According to Buckley, Hawkins got a call on his cell phone from another driver, Matthew Carroll, asking Hawkins for assistance, and Hawkins agreed to help him without informing the dispatcher.2 Carroll's tractor-trailer was stuck in a snow berm near the Frontiersman newspaper office in Wasilla, and he was unable to move it.3 Instead of going to lunch, Hawkins and Buckley headed to Carroll's truck.

Hawkins unhitched his trailer and drove his truck so it was facing Carroll's truck; he then attached a tow chain to the trucks. In the meantime Buckley began to dig out the stuck wheel, first using his hands and then a shovel, but Carroll's truck remained stuck. The precise sequence of events that followed is difficult to discern because witnesses gave inconsistent accounts at different times, but someone decided to use tire chains to try to gain traction. American Fast Freight drivers sometimes laid tire chains out on the ground, rather than put them around the tire, to improve traction when a truck was stuck on snow or ice: Buckley said he had seen other American Fast Freight drivers do so and had assisted them in the past; Carroll said he too had previously used chains this way and had seen others do it; and Hawkins also indicated he had done this before. Two company officials reported during the subsequent accident investigation that drivers used chains this way at times, and company officials indicated that American Fast Freight was aware of the practice - one official said he had himself used chains this way as an American Fast Freight driver.

Buckley laid a tire chain in front of the wheel and used hand and verbal signals to let the drivers know when he was clear of the truck. Carroll then tried to move the truck to engage the chain and get traction. The method was not successful, and in fact the wheel's spinning caused the tire chain to shoot out the back. The three men used the same approach four times with no success. Buckley then thought of laying a second chain behind the wheel, because he "noticed [Carroll] was rocking back a little bit." He asked Carroll where another chain was and got a second chain from one of the trucks so there would be a chain both in front of and behind the stuck wheel.

The accident happened on the fifth attempt to move the truck. The drivers reported being focused on their trucks because they were concerned about a collision if Carroll got traction.

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444 P.3d 139, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/buckley-v-am-fast-freight-inc-alaska-2019.