Couch v. U.S.

Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Federal Tort Claims Act
Citation
Case Number: 
No. 12-1107
Decision Date: 
September 5, 2012
Federal District: 
N.D. Ill., E. Div.
Holding: 
Reversed and remanded
Dist. Ct. erred in finding that plaintiff-driver employed by private trucking company with "Highway Contract Route" with U.S. Postal Service was also "borrowed employee" of Postal Service that prevented plaintiff from filing negligence claim against Postal Service under FTCA. Plaintiff was entitled to seek recovery under FTCA where plaintiff's employer did not meet statutory definition of loaning employer under Illinois Workers Compensation Act since plaintiff's employer did not merely lend its employees to Postal Service, but rather trained, equipped, paid and supervised them using employer's own equipment.