Bard v. Jahnke

OPINION OF THE COURT

Read, J.

The accident underlying this litigation occurred on September *59427, 2001 at Hemlock Valley Farms in Otsego County, a dairy farm owned and operated by defendant Reinhardt Jahnke and his wife in partnership with their two sons. At roughly 8:00 a.m., plaintiff Larry Bard, a self-employed carpenter, arrived at the farm to meet defendant John Timer, another self-employed carpenter. One of Jahnke’s sons had asked Timer to repair ripped cow mattresses in a certain section—called the “low cow district”—of the farm’s free-stall dairy barn. This large barn, which was divided…