Dallas County Pulpwood Co. v. Strange

George Rose Smith, Justice. In this workmen’s compensation case the Commission found (a) that the claimant Strange was an employee of the appellant pulpwood company at the time he was accidentally injured and (b) that the claimant’s injuries arose out of and in the course of his employment. The circuit court affirmed. For reversal the appellant employer contends that there is no substantial evidence to support either of the Commission’s findings of fact. We cannot agree. Upon the first issue the proof shows that the appellant was supplying pulpwood to Continental Can Company. The appellant had some fifteen haulers who, like the claimant, cut the pulpwood (with the assistance of their own crews) and delivered it by truck to Continental’s yard. The claimant had ostensibly purchased his truck from the appellant. The contract, not in writing, required the appellee to pay for the truck, plus the cost of liability insurance, at the rate of $3.00 per cord of wood. The employer’s testimony indicated that the claimant’s truck would be taken away if he hauled for anyone else. The Commission, upon adequate substantial evidence, made the following findings of fact upon the issue of the claimant’s status as an employee: The Commission is convinced that the relationship in this case is definitely one of employee-employer. The respondent exercised complete control over the claimant. The claimant did not purchase the uncut timber with his own money and he was certainly not independent from the respondent for the very reason that he would lose his truck if he hauled pulpwood to any other dealer. The respondent had control of the cutting, loading, and hauling of the logs and, on occasion would travel to the cutting sites to make sure that correct procedures were used in the cutting and hauling process. There is no hard and fast rule to determine whether a person undertaking to do work for another is an employee or an independent contractor, and each case must be determined by its own particular facts and we are convinced that the particular facts in this case reveal that the claimant was, indeed, an employee. The significant difference between this case and the case of Pearson v. Lake Lawrence Pulpwood Co., 247 Ark. 776, 447 S.W. 2d 661 (1969), cited by the appellant, is that in Pearson the Commission found that the claimant was not an employee of the pulpwood company. We sustained the Commission’s decision, because it was supported by substantial evidence. In the case at hand we again sustain the Commission’s decision, for the same reason. That conclusion makes it unnecessary for us to consider the Commission’s additional finding that the appellant is estopped to deny its workmen’s compensation coverage of the appellee. The second question is whether the Commission was justified by the evidence in finding that Strange’s injuries arose out of and in the course of his employment. Here the facts are not really in dispute. On the day of his accidental injury Strange was engaged in buying a tractor for snaking logs out of the woods in his work for the appellant. During the morning Strange borrowed the $200 down payment from his employer, an individual doing business as Dallas County Pulpwood Company. Strange arranged to finance the rest of the purchase at a bank in Warren. Having completed those arrangements Strange went home to get his truck (the one he was using in his work) and tow the tractor to the worksite in the woods, where he would resume cutting timber the next morning. As Strange was backing out of his driveway he brushed against some limbs, fell to the ground, and was run over by one wheel of the truck. There is ample authority to sustain the Commission’s finding of fact that Strange was injured in the course of his employment. Blair states the general rule in his Reference Guide to Workmen’s Compensation, § 9.32 (1974): “Preliminary preparations by an employee, reasonably essential to the proper performance of some required task or service, are generally regarded as being within the scope of employment and any injury suffered while in the act of preparing to do a job is compensable.” In Fels v. Industrial Commission, 269 Wis. 294, 69 N.W. 2d 225 (1955), the claimant was injured while repairing his own dump truck with the intention of taking it to the jobsite so that it would be ready to be loaded the following morning. The court upheld an award of compensation. In McBride v. Preston Creamery Ass’n, 228 Minn. 93, 36 N.W. 2d 404 (1949), the claimant was sanding an icy hill on a private road leading to his farm so he could drive his truck to work the next morning, to haul milk for his employer. In upholding the award the court said: “Here, it is undisputed that employee’s employment required the use of the private road which he was attempting to sand at the time of his injury. Such work was in preparation for his employment the following day and was work which was clearly a necessary part thereof.” Other pertinent cases include Sieck v. Trueblood, 485 P. 2d 134 (Colo. App., 1971); Stapleton v. State Highway Commn. of Kansas, 147 Kan. 419, 76 P. 2d 843 (1938); Frandsen v. Industrial Commn. of Utah, 61 Utah 354, 213 P. 197 (1923). We do not imply, of course, that all injuries sustained by an employee in preparing for work are compensable. But here Strange was purchasing a tractor to be used in his work, his employer had approved the purchase by advancing the down payment, the whole transaction occurred during working hours, and Strange was injured while preparing to take the tractor to the jobsite. Those facts are substantial proof supporting the award. Affirmed.