Casella Waste Management will remain party to a lawsuit filed by the estate of a man who was killed in 2020 at the Chautauqua County Landfill in Ellery.

On Aug. 3, 2020, Scott Deming was standing behind a large pile of garbage and debris he had just dumped at the landfill in Ellery when he was hit by a bulldozer driven by a county employee. Deming was fatally injured. The Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office stated the bulldozer operator had “no idea” Deming was behind the pile when the debris was pushed into a pit.

The son of Scott Deming Sr. initially filed suit in state Supreme Court in Mayville against Chautauqua County, the county Department of Public Facilities, the County Landfill and and the county employee who drove the bulldozer. The suit — filed in May 2021 — alleges that Deming’s death was “the result of negligence, carelessness, recklessness, and unlawful conduct on the part of the defendants, Chautauqua County Department of Public Facilities, Chautauqua County landfill and James Christ.”

In its initial response to the suit, the county denied it was negligent.

On May 2, 2023, the county filed suit against Bestway Container Services, the company that employed Deming as a truck driver, as a third-party defendant in the original complaint. Casella Waste Management, which purchased Bestway Container Services, was later added to the county’s lawsuit because it had taken over Bestway’s contract with the county

In its suit, the county claims Bestway Container “owed a duty of care … to properly train its employees who are to perform employment duties at the Chautauqua County Landfill, including but not limited to training its employees to exercise caution, follow applicable rules, and not engage in dangerous, reckless or unlawful activity.”

It also states, “As a result of Third-Party Defendant’s negligence, wrongful conduct, and failure to train, Third-Party Defendant caused Scott M. Deming Sr. to suffer serious injuries, including death, from which Plaintiff Scott M. Deming Jr., as Administrator of the Estate of Scott M. Deming Sr., deceased is seeking recompense.”

The county believes if judgment is awarded to the estate, Bestway Container should contribute to the cost.

In court documents, the county said it entered into an agreement in January 2020 for Bestway Container to provide all garbage and container services. Part of the contract, the county claims, requires the company to compensate the county “for any damages arising from Third-Party Defendant’s performance of work under the agreement.”

The county is asking the court to enter judgment against Bestway Container, requiring the company to compensate the county for its share of the fault “for any alleged injuries and damages suffered by Plaintiff.”

In 2025, state Supreme Court Justice Grace Hanlon dismissed a motion by Casella Waste Management seeking to be dismissed from the lawsuit.

“Granting summary judgment is a drastic remedy which this court will not enter into flippantly,” Hanlon wrote. “Granting summary judgment at the outset of a case, with little or no discovery being exchanged is an extreme measure that the court cannot grant in the current instance.”

Casella had claimed that it did not assume Bestway’s liabilities when it acquired the company.

On Friday, a five-member Fourth Department Appellate Division panel unanimously affirmed Hanlon’s decision. At the time of the accident Bestway had a contract with the county for garbage and container services, part of which indemnified the county. After the accident, Casella Waste Management purchased Bestway. The county initiated a third-party lawsuit against Bestway and Casella seeking contribution, common-law indemnification and contractual indemnification.

The appeals court agreed with Casella that Hanlon erred in applying the summary judgment standard to Casella’s motion to dismiss the county’s lawsuit. That prompted the appellate panel to review Casella’s contentions in the context of a motion to dismiss – eventually finding that precedent in state law has found that a successor that effectively takes over a company in its entirety should carry the predecessor’s liabilities as a concomitant to the benefits it derives from the good will purchased.

“(The county) alleged in the amended third-party complaint that, in acquiring Bestway, Casella assumed Bestway’s obligations to under its contract with the county, including Bestway’s obligation to indemnify the county,” Presiding Justice Gerald Whalen wrote in his opinion for the appellate court. “Casella contends, however, that it did not purchase Bestway’s assets until after the accident and, pursuant to the APA, Casella expressly assumed none of Bestway’s liabilities that existed, or may have existed, before the purchase. We reject that contention … We thus conclude that (the county) sufficiently alleged causes of action against Casella for contribution, common-law indemnification and contractual indemnification.”