What went wrong when an untrained worker took the controls at night
A Saskatchewan farm must pay a truck driver more than $255,000 after one of its workers knocked hay bales onto him in the dark, with the court faulting the employer for the wrong equipment and a supervisor who was on the phone instead of watching the unload.
The Court of King's Bench for Saskatchewan released the decision on April 29, 2026. Justice Bardai found the worker, Wesley Stahl, 70 percent at fault, and his employer, the Hutterite Brethren Church of Riverview Limited, 15 percent at fault for its own negligence, while the driver, Gagandeep Brar, was found 15 percent contributorily negligent. After that reduction, Brar was awarded $255,619.48.
A nighttime unload that went wrong
Brar, then 24 and only days into owning his truck, arrived at the farm outside Saskatoon after midnight on June 26, 2015, hauling a two-trailer load of hay bales. Rain was in the forecast, the load was not tarped, and he wanted it off the truck that night rather than waiting until morning.
Stahl, an assistant manager in the dairy operation, climbed into a telehandler to lift the bales off. He had operated the machine for only two or three months, was not a certified operator and did not hold the required license. The machine's attachment that night was a pallet fork rather than a bale spear built to pierce the bales.
As Stahl removed the third bale, the trailer swayed and the bales came down on Brar, who was unstrapping the load on the far side of the truck, out of Stahl's sight. Brar suffered broken ribs and multiple displaced pelvic fractures and was taken to hospital by ambulance.
Why the employer was also liable
Justice Bardai found Stahl negligent because he chose to run the telehandler when he could not see Brar but knew Brar was on the other side of the truck unstrapping the load. As Stahl's employer, Riverview was vicariously liable for that negligence because the unloading fell within the scope of his job.
The court went further and found Riverview negligent in its own right. According to the decision, the manager overseeing the unloading had stepped away to his truck to make a phone call and was not watching when the accident happened. The judge noted that Brar's inexperience and missing safety gear should have made supervision more important, not less.
Weighing each party's conduct, Justice Bardai placed the bulk of the responsibility on Stahl at 70 percent, with "Riverview's negligence for failing to provide adequate supervision and a bale spear attachment for the Telehandler accounting for 15%."
The driver's share of the fault
Brar was not free of blame. The judge found him 15 percent at fault, pointing to his decision to unstrap the load in the dark and out of the operator's view while he knew the telehandler was running, and to his choice to unload on uneven ground after arriving in a rush.
The court found that Stahl's missing license and unread manual did not cause the accident. It also found that Brar's lack of a safety vest, gloves and boots would not have prevented his injuries, because the operator could not have seen him through the bales in any event.
After the 15 percent reduction for Brar's own fault, the award came to $255,619.48, built on $90,000 in general damages plus lost income and homemaking capacity. Stahl and Riverview share liability for the 70 percent portion, and Riverview is responsible on its own for the rest. "In the end result, I find Riverview vicariously liable for the actions of Mr. Stahl, and I also find that Riverview was negligent," Justice Bardai wrote.
See Brar v Hutterite Brethren Church of Riverview Limited, 2026 SKKB 93
