In the world of professional towing, a “wrong turn” usually just costs a little time. For Corey Lame, it cost over five thousand dollars and a friendship.

The Crash at the Dead End

The trouble began on a summer afternoon in July 2011. Corey, a flatbed tow truck driver for Jason Leyon, was following a customer back to their home with their truck already secured on the bed. Trusting his GPS, Corey turned down what appeared to be a through-street, only to find himself trapped at a dead end.

Maneuvering a massive flatbed in tight quarters is a delicate dance of mirrors and geometry. As Corey attempted to swing the truck around, the back end flared out. A low-hanging tree branch, invisible in his mirrors, caught the rear of the customer’s truck. What started as a simple tow ended with a crushed pickup bed and a shattered tail light.

The “Good Boss” Gamble

Jason Leyon, the owner of the towing company, faced a choice. He could file an insurance claim, which would have meant an immediate spike in premiums and the mandatory firing of Corey. Instead, Jason tried to be the “nice guy.”

“If I go through my insurance, it’ll terminate his employment immediately,” Jason explained. Hoping to keep a good worker on the team, he made an informal deal: they would settle the repair costs in cash, and Corey could work off the debt over time.

For a month, the arrangement seemed to hold. Corey even paid an initial $1,000—the equivalent of what an insurance deductible would have been—as a show of good faith. At the time, Corey was balancing a lot: a new baby on the way and a move into his mother-in-law’s house. Jason, feeling sympathetic, didn’t even start deducting money from Corey’s paychecks yet, waiting for him to get back on his feet.

The Midnight Text

The camaraderie vanished on a Monday night in late August. Jason was back at the shop, frantic because Corey wasn’t answering his phone while customers were screaming for service.

Finally, a text message buzzed on Jason’s phone. It wasn’t an apology; it was a resignation. “Find someone else to do your work,” the message read. “I’m tired of feeling like a worthless employee. I’m not paying you nothing.” Just like that, Corey walked away from the job—and the remaining $4,617 in repair bills.

The Reckoning

In the courtroom, Corey’s defense was based on a common misconception: “I was an employee… if something happens, the company is liable.” He argued that Jason was a businessman with insurance and should have just absorbed the cost. He even accused Jason of being vindictive for telling the unemployment office that he was sleeping on the job.

However, the law has a different perspective on “negligence.” While a company is liable to the customer for damages, the employee remains legally responsible to the employer for damage caused by their own careless mistakes.

The judge didn’t blink. Backing into a stationary tree is the very definition of negligence. Because Corey had already paid $1,000, the judge credited that amount but ordered him to pay the remaining $4,617.

The Aftermath

Corey left the courtroom disgruntled, trading the high-stakes world of towing for a job at a deli. Jason, on the other hand, held no grudges. He had simply wanted his money back. As it turned out, Corey’s parents had opened a deli, and he had jumped ship to work for them the day after he quit.