Farm negligent for Tri-Cities dust storm. Trucker who lost leg awarded $17M
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- A jury awarded a Whatcom County couple $17 million after finding landowners reckless.
- Plowing before irrigation, attorneys say, led to severe dust storms and complaints.
- A May 2021 dust storm reduced visibility to about 10 feet and caused the pileup on I-182.
A Tri-Cities jury awarded a Whatcom County truck driver $17 million for losing his leg in a crash caused by a severe dust storm on Interstate 82.
Jurors decided Frank Tiegs LLC and Greenridge Farming were reckless in how they maintained a 68-acre farm south of Richland near Dallas Road, creating the perfect conditions for blowing dust.
The decision followed about a two-week trial in Benton County Superior Court in Kennewick.
“Farm management 101 got thrown out the window,” Anatoliy Paknyuk’s attorney Nate Roberts told the Tri-City Herald.
He said the plot was plowed in May 2021 even though it could not be watered to smother the dust because of an irrigation equipment issue. “This is a gross deviation from what a competent landowner would be doing in these situations,” Roberts said.
The verdict is bittersweet for Pakhnyuk and his wife.
“They’re thankful for the jury’s work,” Roberts said. “It doesn’t give the plaintiff his former life back, but it does feel like a modicum of justice has finally been served.”
Frank Tiegs LLC and Greenridge Farming were represented by Liberty Mutual attorneys. They could not be reached by the Herald about the verdict or if they plan to appeal.
The Frank Tiegs LLC is named for Frank S. Tiegs, who owned Oregon Potato, a dozen other companies and vast land holdings, making him one of the most influential Tri-Citians in a generation. He died in February 2024.
His company owned and operated Greenridge Farming, according to court documents.
Dust storm problems
The farm near Dallas Road and Interstate 82 was formerly an apple orchard that needed its irrigation system upgraded, Roberts said.
The ground was turned over before there was irrigation water available, according to the suit. Something Pakhnyuk’s attorneys said caused severe and dangerous dust storms in the area.
“By way of example, on May 17 and 18, multiple neighbors complained that there was severe blowing dust coming from the agricultural land,” the suit said.
“One neighbor specifically reported, ‘The past two windstorms have stirred up so much thick dust I could not cross the intersection. I simply could not see if there was oncoming traffic.’”
But even with complaints about the property, the company took no steps to fix it, Roberts said.
On May 27, 2021, officers said visibility was down to about 10 feet in the area, court documents said.
Photos and video from the time show the dust was isolated to a small stretch of the interstate. Roberts called it a sign of the poor land management.
The low visibility led to the multi-car pileup on the highway about 6 p.m. Attorneys called it “as preventable as it was tragic.”
Pakhnyuk was one of the drivers caught in the wreck. He was driving a semi truck north on I-82 behind another semi. He didn’t realize that he was approaching another pileup in the dust cloud.
“Mr. Pakhnyuk reacted to the emergency by quickly maneuvering to bypass a stationary traveling trailer,” the suit said. “Despite his efforts, Mr. Pakhnyuk’s left foot was crushed.”
Pakhnyuk was rushed to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, but his foot could not be saved. The lower part of his left leg needed to be amputated.