MADISON, Wis. (Legal Newsline) - The widow of a man who fell into a trailer attached to a semi-tractor and suffocated in corn gluten missed her chance to sue, as a Wisconsin appeals court has found his death involved a motor vehicle.
That fact subjected the case brought by Kevin Wiemer's estate and wife to a two-year statute of limitations, which they missed, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals ruled on Aug. 8.
A Rusk County judge had decided since Wiemer's death occurred in a gravity-operated hopper trailer and not in the tractor pulling it, the case did not involve a motor vehicle.
But the Court of Appeals disagreed and granted defendants Zeeland Farm Services, Atlantic Carriers, Blackhoof Trucking and Scottsdale Indemnity Company summary judgment.
Wiemer argued the tractor-trailer was not a motor vehicle because it was not a combination of two or more vehicles.
"Here, the semi-tractor and trailer were combined when they were attached to one another - that is, when they were merged into a single vehicle," the decision says.
"At that point, they became a 'combination' until they were detached. The definition of 'motor vehicle' in (Wisconsin law) merely required the semi-tractor and trailer to be a 'combination'; it did not require a showing that they worked in combination to break the bridge that had formed inside the trailer."
Blackhoof Trucking transported 25 tons of pelletized corn gluten in 2019. The bottom of the hopper was placed over a pit, and gravity was to shoot the corn out of the bottom.
But the corn had compacted, or "bridged," and wouldn't drain. Kevin Wiemer, a River Country Co-Op employee, climbed on top of the trailer in attempt to bust the corn up so it would drain.
But he fell and was pulled to the bottom of the trailer, resulting in his death. The resulting lawsuit was filed more than 2 1/2 years after the incident, though suits involving motor vehicles are subject to a two-year statute of limitations.
"(U)ndere the Estate's own theory, it was during the transport of the corn gluten that the bridge inside the trailer formed," the Court of Appeals wrote.
"Thus, when unloading the corn gluten from the tractor-trailer - a motor vehicle - the Defendants' alleged negligence occurring during the transport was directly at play.
"This additional consideration further supports our conclusion that Wiemer's accident involved a motor vehicle."