Demain v. Bruce McLaughlin Logging

This is a workers’ compensation case. The employer, Bruce McLaughlin Logging, and its surety, Associated Loggers Exchange (collectively the Employer or McLaughlin) appeal a decision by the Industrial Commission (Commission) that James DeMain (DeMain) sustained an occupational disease entitling him to compensation under Idaho’s Workers’ Compensation Law.

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BACKGROUND AND PRIOR PROCEEDINGS

DeMain worked as a skid operator for Triplett Logging for 13$ years beginning in 1970. A skidder is a tractor-type device with a blade on the front for removing limbs from the trunk of trees. It is also used to…