By: Derek Hawkins//March 17, 2020//
7th Circuit Court of Appeals
Case Name: Marina D. Kolchinsky, et al. v. Western Dairy Transport, LLC, et al.
Case No.: 19-1739
Officials: RIPPLE, SYKES, and ST. EVE, Circuit Judges.
Focus: Independent Contractor – Negligence
After Marina Kolchinsky and her mother, Lidia Kolchinsky, were severely injured in a car collision with a tractor-trailer in Illinois, they sued the truck driver and the two companies that contracted with him. They filed in federal court based on diversity of citizenship; Illinois law controlled. The district court entered partial summary judgment in favor of Western Dairy Transport, LLC, and WD Logistics, LLC, concluding that the driver was an independent contractor so the Kolchinskys could not hold the companies responsible for the driver’s alleged negligence. Because the district court properly classified the driver as an independent contractor, we affirm the summary judgment for the companies.
Affirmed