Appeals court rules in cattle truck spill case

SANDPOINT — Idaho’s Court of Appeals is upholding the vacated judgment against a Canadian cattle truck driver accused of spilling a mixture of feces, urine and rainwater on U.S. Highway 95 in Boundary County.

Clarence Tams was cited in 2007 for littering while transporting cattle from a feedlot in Alberta to a slaughterhouse in Tri-Cities, Wash. While en route, Tams stopped at the Three Mile junction north of Bonners Ferry.

When Tams turned back onto the highway, a law officer saw the slurry of excrement spill from the trailer and onto the road. The officer estimated 35-40 gallons of the mixture sloshed onto the roadway for about 15 yards, according to court documents.

During a magistrate court trial, Tams argued the littering statute did not apply to cow feces or urine. The court disagreed and further found that Tams negligently allowed the excrement to wind up on a public highway.

Tams, a 60-year-old from Coaldale, Alberta, appealed to a 1st District Court judge, who held that the slurry of waste did not fit the statute, which specifically mentions solid objects and makes no mention of liquids. The district judge also ruled that the magistrate court judge erred because the state failed to prove that Tams was criminally negligent and vacated the conviction against him.

The state appealed to the appellate court, which found that the district court had incorrectly ruled that the waste did not fit the statute. However, the appeals court affirmed the district court’s ruling that the state failed to carry its burden in proving criminal negligence on Tams’ part.

Appellate Judge John Melanson found that there was no nearby facility where Tams could have cleaned out the cattle trailer and there was no safe or legal place for him to drain waste from the trailer anywhere else.

“While the amount of manure on the road was significant, the state failed to present evidence that Tams demonstrated a reckless disregard of the consequence of the leaking manure and urine or to the rights or safety of others,” Melanson wrote in an opinion published on Tuesday.

Chief Judge Karen Lansing and Judge Sergio Gutierrez concurred.