Court Opinion

ID: 9793727
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 02:52:04.127561+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:06:42.622721
License: Public Domain

BURKE, Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent.
It is undisputed that ARCO exercised substantial actual control over both the work site and the work performed by Kenneth Dahle at the time of the accident. On the date of the accident, as on each of the previous several days, Dahle received his *1076specific work orders from ARCO, after he arrived at ARCO’s base camp. His orders, in this instance, were to remove snow from ARCO’s drilling pads, including the pad upon which the accident occurred, using a front end loader supplied by ARCO. These orders were given to Dahle by Bill Rice, ARCO’s equipment dispatcher.
When the employer of an independent contractor exercises substantial actual control over the details of the work, determining how and when the work will be done, the employer must use reasonable care in the exercise of that control. Moloso v. State, 644 P.2d 205, 210-14 (Alaska 1982). Given the undisputed evidence in this case, I would hold that ARCO owed a duty of care to Kenneth Dahle as a matter of law. Thus, I would reverse and remand this matter to the trial court upon the ground that the jury’s verdict was contrary to the clear weight of the evidence. I express no opinion on any other issue in the case.