Barge Owner Beats Suit by Skid Steer Driver Hurt Cleaning Vessel

A barge owner isn’t liable to a customer’s Bobcat skid steer operator, who was injured while cleaning out the bottom of a vessel before his employer used it, the Seventh Circuit said.

Crounse Corp. had reasonable procedures in place to inspect the barges it rented and the operator didn’t show that it knew or should’ve known about the defect that caused his injury, the opinion by Judge Ilana D. Rovner said.

Steven Smith worked for Mulzer Crushed Stone, which rented barges from Crounse to move its product. Smith was injured in April 2017 while he was cleaning out coal that ...