Court Opinion

ID: 9627309
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 08:42:10.308127+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:06:44.610873
License: Public Domain

JOHNSON, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. In my view, the definition of employer contained in I.C. § 72-102(12) is applicable, and there is a genuine issue of material fact concerning whether the State was the virtual proprietor or operator *442of the timber harvesting business at the Breakfast Bowl when Harpole was injured.
It appears to me that the Industrial Commission (the Commission) adopted the Idaho Minimum Safety Standards and Practices for Logging (the Standards) pursuant to I.C. §§ 72-720 through 72-723, portions of the workers’ compensation law. Therefore, I conclude that the definition of employer contained in I.C. § 72-102(12) should also apply.
The State owned the Breakfast Bowl and could have harvested the timber itself. Instead, it contracted with Potlatch to do so and required Potlatch to remove the timber using the very method that led to Harpole’s injury. Liberally construing the facts and drawing all reasonable inferences in Harpole’s favor, I would conclude that there was a genuine issue of material fact concerning whether the work being done pertained to the business of the State of harvesting the timber.