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...

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