Argonaut Insurance Co. v. Vanatta

539 S.W.2d 35, 1976 Tenn. LEXIS 571
CourtTennessee Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 12, 1976
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 539 S.W.2d 35 (Argonaut Insurance Co. v. Vanatta) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Tennessee Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Argonaut Insurance Co. v. Vanatta, 539 S.W.2d 35, 1976 Tenn. LEXIS 571 (Tenn. 1976).

Opinion

OPINION

HARBISON, Justice.

This is an action for workmen’s compensation benefits brought on behalf of the dependents of a deceased truck driver, James L. Vanatta. On this appeal the issues are the applicability of the Tennessee workmen’s compensation law to the death of decedent, and the effect of a “trip lease” executed by him in connection with the freight delivery which he was making at the time of his death.

The decedent was killed in a single vehicle accident on November 3,1971 while driving a tractor-trailer unit on U. S. Interstate 24 in Marion County, Tennessee. He resided in Cannon County, Tennessee but had been employed as a truck driver by Jack Cole-Dixie Highway Company at its terminal in Birmingham, Alabama.1 He was dispatched from the Birmingham terminal, and this was unquestionably his base of operations. He was, however, sent into many other states by and on behalf of his employer, which is a certificated carrier operating in interstate commerce. Because the contract of employment was made in Alabama, and decedent was employed at the Birmingham terminal, it is insisted on behalf of his employer that Tennessee has insufficient contacts with the claim to make its workmen’s compensation statute applicable.

[37]*37Appellant relies upon the recent decision of this Court in the case of Ray v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., 517 S.W.2d 194 (Tenn.1974), in which the Court held the Tennessee statute inapplicable to the claim there under consideration. In that case, however, the contract of employment was made in Missouri, and the injury occurred there. The only significant contact between the claim and the State of Tennessee was that the workman resided in Shelby County, and he had learned of his job opportunity through a local union in Memphis. Under these circumstances it was held that the claimant’s remedy was under the workmen’s compensation law of Missouri.

In the present case, however, not only did the deceased and his dependents reside in Tennessee, but the accident occurred in the state. The trial court held that under these circumstances a claim for workmen’s compensation benefits could be asserted under the Tennessee statute. We are in agreement with this conclusion, even though upon these facts the family of the deceased might also have had a claim under the Alabama statute, had they seen fit to pursue the matter in that state. See Millican v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., 224 Tenn. 604, 460 S.W.2d 842 (1970); Brewer v. Pocahontas Coal Company, 221 Tenn. 130, 425 S.W.2d 582 (1968); United States Casualty Co. v. Standard Accident Insurance Co., 175 Tenn. 559, 136 S.W.2d 504 (1940). Accordingly, the assignment of error as to the jurisdiction of the Tennessee courts is overruled.

The remaining assignments of error by appellant arise out of and concern the consequences of the “trip lease” executed by the deceased truck driver a few days before his death. It is undisputed between the parties that the decedent was operating under this lease and was making a delivery for Diamond Transportation System, Inc. thereunder at the time of his fatal accident.

There is no question but that the Jack Cole-Dixie Highway Company (appellant’s insured) was the general employer of the decedent. He was a regular truck driver for the company. Usually he was assigned to a unit owned by his father, S. E. Vanat-ta, and operated by the truck line under a “permanent lease” made between it and S. E. Vanatta in August, 1970. A copy of this document is in the record. Under its terms the equipment was placed under the control and direction of the lessee. While the document as filed makes no reference to the compensation to be paid to the owner, the testimony is undisputed that he received forty-six percent of the gross revenue produced by the vehicle while it was being operated on the business of the truck company. The owner was required to bear a number of the operating expenses, upkeep and maintenance on the vehicle. The lease agreement does not purport in any way to make the driver of the equipment an employee of the owner.

It is undisputed between the parties that in the latter part of October, 1971 the decedent was dispatched by the Birmingham office of his employer to take a load of merchandise from Anniston, Alabama to the vicinity of St. Paul, Minnesota. The employer did not have a return load to the southern region. The truck driver thereupon called the Birmingham terminal and requested permission to go to Hammond, Indiana to see if there was a return cargo there. From Hammond, he again telephoned the Birmingham terminal, and reported that there was no return load to the Birmingham area. He then requested permission to “find a load”, and this permission was given. Later the decedent called the Birmingham terminal and advised that he was going to transport a load of tractors for Diamond Transportation System, Inc., and representatives of the employer gave permission for this to be done. The proof shows that at or about the same time several other employees of Jack Cole-Dixie Highway Company likewise transported cargoes for Diamond under “trip leases”.

The authority of the decedent to execute a “trip lease” binding in its consequences upon the employer was the principal issue litigated in the trial court. On behalf of the employer, it was contended that the employee was merely “released” from his [38]*38permanent and regular employment with Jack Cole-Dixie Highway Company, in order that he might accept temporary employment with Diamond Transportation System, Inc. It is undisputed that on October 29,1971 the employee did execute a trip lease form, showing Diamond Transportation System, Inc., as lessee and Jack Cole-Dixie Highway Company as lessor. The instrument was executed on behalf of the lessor by the decedent himself. The terms and provisions of this lease require the lessor to provide broad indemnity to the lessee, and expressly require the lessor to provide the driver’s salary and workmen’s compensation coverage.

On behalf of the employer it is insisted that the employee had no authority to bind it to provide compensation coverage while under a “trip lease”. The employer’s representatives testified that their interpretation of such a temporary or “spot” lease was that the driver became a temporary employee of the lessee; these witnesses testified that the employee was released from their control, and that the employer received no part of the revenue from the vehicle while it was operated under the temporary leasing arrangement. They testified that all of the revenue went either to the lessee, or to the owner of the equipment, who then made provision out of his share for the payment of the driver.

There is nothing in the written documents filed in the record to indicate what the practice of this particular employer was with regard to “trip leases”, and the revenue to be derived therefrom. An official of Diamond Transportation System, Inc. testified that that company had a different arrangement, and that when its equipment was leased temporarily, it did share in the revenue produced therefrom.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
539 S.W.2d 35, 1976 Tenn. LEXIS 571, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/argonaut-insurance-co-v-vanatta-tenn-1976.