Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. Port of Beaumont Navigation District of Jefferson County

438 S.W.2d 843, 1969 Tex. App. LEXIS 2347
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 27, 1969
DocketNo. 7021
StatusPublished

This text of 438 S.W.2d 843 (Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. Port of Beaumont Navigation District of Jefferson County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. Port of Beaumont Navigation District of Jefferson County, 438 S.W.2d 843, 1969 Tex. App. LEXIS 2347 (Tex. Ct. App. 1969).

Opinion

KEITH, Justice.

The appeal is from a judgment entered after a motion to disregard one finding of the jury had been sustained, awarding Port of Beaumont (hereinafter called “Port”) $6,300.00 for damages to one of its diesel electric cranes. The railway (which will be designated simply as “Santa Fe”) was engaged in switching operations in the Port moving the loaded and unloaded cars about the Port facilities as directed by Port’s dock superintendent. For these services, Santa Fe received a portion of the “line haul” tariff from the several railroads serving the Port.

The Port had three cranes standing on a short, dead-end spur track connected with the other tracks serving the Port. The crane nearest to the track connection, the [845]*845diesel electric crane which was damaged, was being repaired and was not operative. The next crane to it was a steam powered crane which the Port desired to use elsewhere on the Port properties.

Port’s dock superintendent, Walters, asked Santa Fe’s engine foreman, Beasley, to move the diesel electric crane out of the spur so that Walters could move the steam crane out to its place of use. Beasley had Santa Fe’s switch engine hook onto the diesel electric crane to pull it out. Unfortunately, the boom on the diesel electric crane was at an angle of about forty-five degrees, and while being pulled by the switch engine, encountered some high wires, pulling the boom therefrom causing the damage for which Port sued Santa Fe.

The jury found, in answer to Special Issue No. 1, that the crew of the switch engine was acting in the course and scope of its employment by Santa Fe at the time the crane was moved; but, in answer to the next issue, the jury found that Port had “temporarily borrowed” Santa Fe’s crew to move the crane. The jury found Santa Fe guilty of negligence proximately causing damage to the crane in the amount of $6,300.00.

Santa Fe moved for judgment on the verdict, while the Port moved the court to set aside the answer to Special Issue No. 2, finding that Port had temporarily borrowed the switch engine and crew, and for the entry of judgment on the remainder of the verdict. After due notice, the court granted Port’s motion to disregard, denied Santa Fe’s motion for judgment, and entered judgment in favor of Port for $6,300.00, from which this appeal is taken.

The instruction accompanying Special Issue No. 2, while long, is material to a discussion of the cause and is set out exactly as given:

“In connection with the foregoing issue you are instructed that employees in the general employment of one employer may be temporarily borrowed by another for special services and still remain in the general employment of the general employer. Such employees are ‘borrowed’ if, in obedience to the direction of the general employer, in the performance of the special services they are under the direction and control of the borrowing employer. It is not necessary for the borrowing employer to actually exercise direction and control over the details of the performance of the special services, the borrowing employer may trust the judgment and experience of the borrowed employees to accomplish the task. The fact that the general employer paid the employees for the time they worked as borrowed employees is immaterial in determining whether the employees were under the direction and control of the borrowing employer in performing the services for which they were loaned.
“If the general employees of one employer are placed under control of another employer in the manner of performing their services, they become his special or borrowed employees. If the employees remain under the control of their general employer in the manner of performing their services, they remain employees.”

By its first point, Santa Fe contends that it was error for the trial court to set aside the jury’s answer to the second special issue finding that Port had temporarily borrowed the switch engine and crew. Santa Fe contends that this answer was supported by adequate pleading and the evidence. The Port answers by the assertion that the jury’s finding “was not supported by any evidence.”

With commendable candor, counsel for the Port makes these admissions in his brief:

“Admittedly, Mr. Walters, the Port of Beaumont Dock Superintendent, testified on cross-examination many times that at the time the movement in question was being made the switch engine crew was under his direction and control, but [argues the Port’s counsel] a thorough reading of all the testimony will reveal to [846]*846the Court the true context of Mr. Walters’ testimony and the fact that he was merely testifying that he, as the Port’s dock superintendent, had the right to request that the Santa Fe switch crew perform an act.”

Our review of Walters’ testimony does not lead us to agree with the argument of the Port’s counsel. Walters not only testified many times that the engine crew was under his direction and control, he made it clear that such was the case at the time of the ill-fated movement of the crane. We continue our résumé of the admissions of Port in its brief:

“After viewing the evidence in a light most favorable1 to Appellant, Santa Fe Railway Company, the Appellee admits that the testimony in the trial of this Cause shows that a representative of the Port of Beaumont directed the Santa Fe switch crew to move the crane that ultimately came in contact with overhead cables; that such representative ordered such move to be made; that such switch crew was obeying the Port’s order when such movement was made, and that such movement was being made at the Port’s instruction. The Port of Beaumont further admits that under its arrangement with the Santa Fe Railway Company it had the right to tell the switch crew in question to make the move in question. Appellee admits that all the testimony in this cause, be it by Mr. Walters [Port’s dock superintendent], Mr. Beasley [Santa Fe’s engine foreman], Mr. C. C. Smith [switch engine operator], or Mr. Meers [sic] [Santa Fe’s local freight agent], was to the effect that the Port of Beaumont had the right to direct, instruct, or order the move to be made * * * ” (Bracketed material and emphasis supplied).

The Port contends, however, that the critical question was not the right to direct the movement, but the “right to control the manner and detail in which the Santa Fe switch crew and engine would perform the tasks the Port directed * * * ”

There is little dispute between the parties as to the rule of law applicable to the question of loaned employee both parties citing Producers Chemical Co. v. McKay, 366 S.W.2d 220 (Tex.Sup., 1963). The critical question is, under McKay, the right of control of the manner in which the employees perform the services necessary to the accomplishment of their ultimate undertaking, the court saying:

“ * * * If the general employees of one employer are placed under control of another employer in the manner of performing their services, they become his special or borrowed employees. If the employees remain under control of their general employer in the manner of performing their services, they remain employees of the general employer and he is liable for the consequences of their negligence. * * * ” (366 S.W.2d at 225).

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Bluebook (online)
438 S.W.2d 843, 1969 Tex. App. LEXIS 2347, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/atchison-topeka-santa-fe-railway-co-v-port-of-beaumont-navigation-texapp-1969.