Biggs v. Theis

369 P.2d 32, 140 Mont. 147, 1962 Mont. LEXIS 60
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 23, 1962
DocketNo. 10395
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 369 P.2d 32 (Biggs v. Theis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Biggs v. Theis, 369 P.2d 32, 140 Mont. 147, 1962 Mont. LEXIS 60 (Mo. 1962).

Opinion

MR. JUSTICE CASTLES

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

This is an appeal from a judgment of the fourth judicial district, which judgment affirmed an order of the Industrial Accident Board awarding compensation to the claimant for 500 weeks at $40 per week.

On December 16, 1960, Gerald W. Biggs was killed in a truck accident near North Fork, Idaho. Biggs was an employee of the [148]*148defendant, Theis and Bush, and was killed in the course of his employment. Theis and Bush is a trucking partnership. The employer had industrial accident insurance coverage in both Montana and Idaho, and to each state was reported fifty percent of the employee’s wages and the premium paid accordingly.

The claimant is the widow of Gerald Biggs. There is no-question but that she is entitled to compensation, but the question is in which state and thus against which insurance carrier. The death was in Idaho, but the family were residents of Montana working for a Montana concern which had a different insurance carrier in each state; and as the insurance payable in Montana was double that which ivas payable in Idaho, the claimant elected to file her claim in Montana.

A hearing was held on the claim and on May 22, 1961, the Montana Industrial Accident Board awarded compensation. The employer’s Montana insurance carrier appealed to the district court where the court affirmed the order of the Board. The carrier then appealed to this court.

On appeal amicus curiae favored the Court with a brief in the matter.

The only question presented on this appeal is whether under the facts of this case, the claimant can receive compensation under the Workmen’s Compensation Act of the State of Montana for the death of her husband which occurred in Idaho.

The employer was a partnership composed of Richard A. Theis and Joe Bush, the principal places of business and headquarters of which were in Missoula and Hamilton, Montana. The partnership was engaged in the business of contracting for the hauling of logs from the timber site to the mill site and of hauling lumber. The partnership owned and operated five logging trucks and one lumber truck. At the time of the accident, the partnership had one hauling contract going in Missoula and a second one going in the area between -Darby, Montana, and Salmon, Idaho. The standing timber was cut in Idaho on a timber sale being logged by one Rossignol and the resulting [149]*149logs were hauled by the partnership either to Darby or to Salmon to sawmills located in each town, depending upon whether the logs were fir or pine. The testimony indicates that the stand was a mixed stand and about one-half of the species was fir which was milled at Salmon and about one-half ivas pine which was milled at Darby. At the time of the accident the logging was being done mainly in fir so that most of the trips were to Salmon. In the month of December when the accident occurred, only eight loads, two of which were hauled by the decedent, went to Darby while fifty, seventeen of which were hauled by decedent, went to Salmon.

Between Salmon, Idaho, and Darby, Montana, the highway crosses the state line. The accident occurred about twenty-nine miles by road within the State of Idaho, and about seventy-five miles from Darby, Montana. It occurred during a trip from the logging area within Idaho to the mill at Salmon, within Idaho.

Biggs was employed at Hamilton, Montana, on October 24, 1960. He picked up his employers’ truck at Darby, Montana, and drove to Idaho where he would at times be required to stay overnight either at the scene of the logging or in Salmon. He never maintained any residence except at his home in Hamilton where he returned every week end and sometimes more often. He accomplished maintenance of the truck in Hamilton or Darby. He was considered a permanent employee and subject to transfer to any of the employer’s job sites.

The employer paid Biggs by a check drawn on a Montana bank. For payroll purposes Biggs was treated as a Montana resident; Federal withholding taxes were paid to Helena; state withholding taxes to Helena; Unemployment Insurance was reported to Helena and not to Idaho.

In Idaho the employer did carry industrial accident insurance. There the Argonaut Insurance Company carried the coverage. The employer had about fifty-two percent of his truck mileage in Idaho, the balance in Montana; and on an arbi[150]*150trary basis half of the payroll was reported to the Idaho carrier and half to the Montana carrier, with each employee being listed on the report to both states.

From all of the foregoing, it can fairly be said that the job of hauling logs being performed by Biggs was neither exclusively in Idaho nor exclusively in Montana. The employers are residents in Montana in every sense, even though they on occasion bid on contracts to be performed outside the state.

At the time of the accident, all of their employees were Montana residents, including Biggs. The contract of employment was in Montana and required duties in both Montana and Idaho.

In State ex rel. Morgan v. Industrial Accident Board, 130 Mont. 272, 300 P.2d 954, this court held that the Montana Workmen’s Compensation Act does have extraterritorial effect in a proper case. Our Act does not have an express extraterritorial effect clause, and in the Morgan case the dissenting opinion challenged the holding as being “legislation” by the court. However, three legislative sessions have intervened without any action by the Legislature.

Prior to the Morgan case, this court in State ex rel. Loney. v. Industrial Accident Board, 87 Mont. 191, 197, 286 P. 408, 410, said:

“While section 2847 [Revised Codes 1921, now R.C.M. 1947, § 92-301] declares: ‘This act is intended to apply to all inherently hazardous works and occupations within this state.’ we do not see that this necessarily excludes its operation beyond the limits of the state where the employee, in the furtherance of his employer’s business which is localized in Montana, and which he is following in passing over the state line, meets with an accidental injury.”

The court in the Loney case was speaking about the business being localized in Montana and the employee passing from Montana into Glacier Park.

It has been settled by the Morgan case, supra, that the Mon[151]*151tana Workmen’s Compensation Act does have extraterritorial effect in a proper case. In the Morgan case, the employer was a road contractor domiciled in Montana and following the practice of bidding on various road jobs in and out of Montana. The contractor was performing work on a localized Montana contract through the summer months during the time Morgan was employed. During the summer Morgan voluntarily laid off for a while. Before Morgan’s return to the job, the contractor had bid in and had gotten a small road job in the State of Idaho. Concurrently with the Idaho job, the contractor had another job in progress in Montana which involved the construction of a road between Superior, Montana, and the Diamond Match Company’s property in Montana. These two were entirely separate and distinct contracts and units of work. They were separated by a considerable distance. The Idaho contract was a complete contract and unit of work to be performed and completed exclusively and entirely in Idaho. It had nothing to do with any work in Montana.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
369 P.2d 32, 140 Mont. 147, 1962 Mont. LEXIS 60, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/biggs-v-theis-mont-1962.