Court: Trucking company owner who failed to carry workers’ comp liable for injury

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The owner of a Spirit Lake trucking company who pleaded guilty to charges that he failed to carry workers’ compensation insurance for his drivers must pay the costs associated with an injury suffered by one of his employees, Business Insurance magazine reported. During sentencing for his felony, a district court ordered Chad Lindsay to pay costs, fees and $75,847 in victim restitution to compensate an employee for his work-related injury, according to documents in State of Iowa v. Chad Lindsay, filed in the Court of Appeals of Iowa in Des Moines. On appeal, Lindsay contended the district court erred in ordering victim restitution in the same amount the victim was awarded in the workers’ compensation action, arguing that by pursuing a workers’ compensation claim, the employee was precluded from recovering in a civil action. Since Lindsay had made no payments to the injured worker under workers’ compensation, his defense failed and he must pay the worker costs associated with the injury, the court ruled.