Worker sues after overdosing at salmon plant

A Baileyville man who became incapacitated following a drug overdose at the Machiasport salmon-processing plant where he was working is suing the company for not following its drug policy and for fellow employees not calling an ambulance for nearly five hours. His cost of care for the remainder of his life could be over $15 million. However, the company, True North Maine, a subsidiary of Cooke Aquaculture Inc., says the worker's injuries were the result of his own actions in taking drugs.
On November 25, 2016, Brian Taylor of Baileyville, who worked a 12-hour night shift at the True North Maine plant, was working when one or more of his co-workers sold him heroin and/or cocaine, which he ingested by snorting. Just before 11 p.m., while putting on rubber boots for work, Taylor fell over, striking his head on the floor and losing consciousness. Co-workers discovered him soon after he fell and called a supervisor. According to the lawsuit, the supervisor declined to come to the site, furnish aid or solicit aid from others. The co-workers then placed Taylor in a chair that was put in a shower stall, and he was left alone there for nearly 4 1/2 hours with cold water pouring over him while he was wearing only a T-shirt, hoodie and pajama bottoms.
Another off-duty supervisor was notified, who called the plant manager, Nicholas Getchell, at 3:18 a.m. Getchell went to the workplace and called 911, stating that he believed the incident involved a heroin overdose. An ambulance crew treated Taylor for hypothermia and drug overdose, administering five doses of Narcan. He then showed a slight responsiveness, although he could not speak, and his body temperature was 85.10. He was taken to Down East Community Hospital and then Eastern Maine Medical Center, where he remained until January 12. He was at rehabilitation centers until June.
According to the lawsuit, Taylor, who is 30, was seriously and permanently injured and is almost completely unable to take care of his daily needs. His medical and home care treatment will continue for the rest of his life, and he is unable to earn an income. As of the end of April, MaineCare had paid $603,293 for his care, with total costs currently exceeding $1.5 million. The cost of care over his life is expected to range from $5.8 million to more than $15 million.
Taylor's attorney, Barry Mills of Ellsworth, states, "Brian makes no excuse for taking the drugs that caused him to lose consciousness. Taking the drugs was his decision. However, the drugs did not cause his injury. His injury was caused by the delay in receiving treatment. Five hours passed from the time Brian became unconscious until he received medical treatment." He adds that medical witnesses will testify that if Taylor had received timely doses of Narcan it is unlikely that he would have been seriously injured.
Taylor's suit states that, during his employment at Cooke Aquaculture's Machiasport salmon-processing plant, drugs were "routinely sold, distributed and used among many, but not all, employees" during working hours. The suit alleges that drug use among many workers was "part of a pervasive or near-pervasive drug culture" in the workplace that was either known or should have been known by the company. The company had the ability to control employees' use of drugs through enforcement of its zero-tolerance alcohol and drug policy, according to the suit. However, Mills states, "Execution and enforcement of the policy tended to be perfunctory. A corporation can act only through its employees; actions of True North Maine employees in the course of employment are, as a matter of law, actions of True North Maine. Brian was injured by the actions of his fellow employees as company agents and by the inattention of the company regarding its paper drug policy."
In the company's response to the suit, True North's attorney, William Devoe of Eaton Peabody in Bangor, states that Taylor's injuries "were partly or wholly the result of his own comparative negligence" and he assumed the risk of his conduct. The response also states that Taylor's injuries "were partly or wholly caused by one or more co-employees who were not acting consistently" with the company's policies. True North also denies that there was a drug culture at the plant. Neither Devoe nor Joel Richardson, Cooke's vice president for public relations, responded to requests for further comment.
True North Maine, Cooke Aquaculture and their liability insurer, Liberty Mutual, contend that Taylor should only receive workers' compensation benefits. Maine's workers' compensation laws grant employers immunity from lawsuits regarding injuries caused while performing employment duties. However, the companies' workers' compensation insurer, Great Falls Insurance, has denied coverage, since Taylor's injury was caused by a drug overdose, and contends that his remedy is through his lawsuit. Mills notes, "They both cannot be right. Thus, the first mission is to obtain a court decision regarding whether we are dealing with a workers' compensation matter or a tort case.
Until that issue is resolved, the case is stalled."
Both Liberty Mutual and Great Falls Insurance have filed motions to dismiss the complaint for a declaratory judgment that asks the superior court to determine whether Mills is limited to workers' compensation or whether the lawsuit can proceed.
In addition, while Taylor's suit had been filed in Washington County Superior Court in August 2017, on August 23, 2018, Liberty Mutual requested that the case be moved to U.S. District Court in Bangor, noting that there is a diversity of citizenship in the case and the amount involved exceeds $75,000. Liberty had denied coverage under each of its three policies with the two companies, and True North and Cooke then filed suit against Liberty Mutual, alleging breach of contract and violation of Maine's Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Act. Attorney Devoe wrote in a letter to Liberty that the insurance company "owes a clear duty to defend Cooke against the allegations" made by Taylor, who has also filed a separate suit against Liberty in Washington County Superior Court.
Attorney Mills comments, "We are trying to get the workers' comp/tort issue resolved to avoid the possibility of inconsistent judgments; that is, one court could hold that Brian's remedy is workers' comp while another court decides that he does not have a tort case. We need one decision that is binding on all of the stakeholders. We can then get on with litigating the merits of the tort case or resign ourselves to workers' compensation."
A hearing on the request for a declaratory judgment on the workers' compensation/lawsuit issue is scheduled for September 21 in Washington County Superior Court.