The legal story behind Sabia Reiche and Loren Schauers begins with a 2019 forklift accident in Montana and runs through three separate proceedings: a federal insurance-coverage lawsuit that Liberty Mutual won against Schauers, a pre-litigation personal injury claim filed against the Montana Department of Transportation, and an OSHA citation issued to Schauers’ employer. Neither Reiche nor Schauers has been the plaintiff in a personal injury suit that reached judgment in the available record. The Sabia and Loren lawsuit most often referenced online is the insurer’s declaratory judgment action, and Schauers was the defendant in it.
The Liberty Mutual Coverage Lawsuit
In early 2022, Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company sued Schauers in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, Billings Division. The case, Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company v. Schauers (No. 1:22-cv-00004), was a declaratory judgment action. The insurer asked the court to rule that it owed no Uninsured Motorist or Underinsured Motorist coverage to Schauers under his employer’s commercial auto policy for the 2019 accident.1Justia. Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company v. Schauers
Schauers argued the policy language was ambiguous and should be read to provide UM/UIM coverage. Judge Susan P. Watters disagreed. On September 27, 2022, three years to the day after the accident, she granted Liberty Mutual’s motion for summary judgment, finding no UM or UIM coverage available under the policy and that the insurer was entitled to judgment as a matter of law.1Justia. Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company v. Schauers
The practical effect: one potential source of compensation — auto UM/UIM benefits through the employer’s policy — was closed off.
The Pre-Litigation Claim Against Montana DOT
A September 2022 Montana Department of Transportation claim report lists a pre-litigation claim filed by Loren Schauers with a notice date of September 23, 2022. The Risk Management and Tort Defense Division catalogued the matter as “personal injury, negligence / no safeguards,” with damages expected to exceed $10,000.2Montana State Legislature. MDTS Claim Report – September 2022
“Pre-litigation” means the matter had not yet been filed as a lawsuit as of that report. Whether the claim later became a filed lawsuit, was settled, or was resolved another way is not shown in the available record. The theory behind it — that inadequate safeguards at the bridge worksite contributed to the accident — parallels the safety finding OSHA made against Schauers’ employer.
The OSHA Citation Against Sletten Construction
OSHA opened its investigation on October 2, 2019, less than a week after the accident. The inspection identified the employer as Sletten Construction Company and described an 18-year-old male laborer who suffered an amputation after a rough-terrain forklift rolled over while being moved across a bridge. OSHA issued one serious violation and assessed a $13,260 penalty. The case closed on December 9, 2019.3OSHA. Inspection Detail – Sletten Construction Company
An OSHA citation is a regulatory enforcement action, not a lawsuit, and the penalty is paid to the government rather than to the injured worker. It does, however, establish a documented safety finding tied to the same worksite.
How Schauers’ Medical Bills Are Being Paid
With auto UM/UIM coverage denied by the federal court and the state claim’s status unclear, the record points to workers’ compensation as the source covering Schauers’ care. In a 2025 interview, Schauers said: “Luckily all my medical bills and whatnot are taking care of through workman’s comp, and so it’s no bother on our pocket.”4LADbible. Loren Schauers Forklift Accident Update – Medical Bills
What the Accident Involved
Schauers was working for Sletten Construction at a bridge-rehabilitation site about a mile north of Wilsall, Montana, when he was moving a rough-terrain forklift across the bridge. According to reporting, a car passed illegally through the narrowed work zone, Schauers steered the roughly 4,400-pound forklift too close to the edge, and recently disturbed ground gave way. The machine fell about 50 feet down a hillside and landed on him.5New York Post. Teen Who Was Crushed by Forklift Opens Up About Amputation6News.com.au. US Teen Tradie Loses Lower Body in Horrific Accident
Surgeons at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle performed a hemicorporectomy, removing everything below his waist. Those medical facts frame why the coverage question mattered, and why more than one avenue of recovery has been pursued.