A jury trial is scheduled for next month in Story County Civil Court against Landus Cooperative following the death of a Greene County resident.

The family of Patrick Fields, who was killed in a fatal crash in June 2017, is suing Landus Cooperative and Shaw Trucking for negligence when they hired Troy Shaw, the man who struck Patrick’s tractor and killed him. The crash happened on June 6, 2017 when Patrick was driving a tractor east on County Road E-18, when the semi-tractor trailer that Troy was driving rear-ended Patrick’s tractor. The tractor then overturned onto Patrick and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Troy was found guilty of a serious misdemeanor for possession of heroin, a simple misdemeanor for possession of drug paraphernalia, and two traffic violations that were determined to be misdemeanors for failure to maintain control and failure to stop in assured clear distance. Troy was sentenced to 90 days in jail for the three simple misdemeanors and two years of probation for the serious misdemeanor.

The lawsuit states that Troy Shaw was acting as an agent or subagent of Landus Cooperative and he was hauling corn for and at the specific direction of Landus Cooperative from one of their locations to one of their customers on the day of Patrick’s death. The lawsuit claims that Landus Cooperative was negligent in hiring Troy and in failing to ensure that he exhibited the “necessary skills, ability, and experience to safely operate the Shaw truck and haul corn to its clients in a safe and lawful manner.” The lawsuit also alleges Landus Cooperative knew, or should have known, about Troy’s prior use of illegal intoxicants.

The lawsuit has similar allegations against the Shaw Trucking Company, of whom Troy Shaw was employed by and operating the vehicle that was used in the fatal crash. The lawsuit is also looking for contractually agreed upon coverage limits in benefits from Patrick Field’s vehicle insurance company, Grinnell Mutual Insurance.

Landus Cooperative Communications Director Alicia Heun released a statement: “Pat’s death is a tragedy for his wife, daughters, family, friends and surrounding communities. Our lawyer has asked that we not comment at this time as we’re preparing for the summer court date. At trial, we look forward to strongly defending our business and in turn, our farmer-members across Iowa, against these claims.”

The petition for the lawsuit was filed by attorney Brian Galligan on December 14, 2017. The jury trial is scheduled for June 11th in Story County.