Burnham Van Service, Inc. v. Dependents of Moore

164 So. 2d 733, 250 Miss. 165, 1964 Miss. LEXIS 453
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedJune 1, 1964
Docket43050
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 164 So. 2d 733 (Burnham Van Service, Inc. v. Dependents of Moore) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Burnham Van Service, Inc. v. Dependents of Moore, 164 So. 2d 733, 250 Miss. 165, 1964 Miss. LEXIS 453 (Mich. 1964).

Opinion

*169 Brady, Tom P., J.

This cause- is appealed from tbe judgment of the Circuit Court of Harrison County, Mississippi, by Burnham Van Service, Inc. and St. Paul Mercury Insurance Company, which judgment affirmed an order of the Mississippi Workmen’s Compensation Commission, which also was an affirmation of an order of the Attorney Referee. The order of the Attorney Referee held (1) that the relationship of employer and employee existed between Burnham Van Service, Inc., hereinafter desiuated as Burnham, or appellant, and Lloyd Lavon Moore, deceased, at the time of the injury and death of Lloyd Lavon Moore, hereinafter called Moore; (2) that the parties were subject to the Mississippi Workmen’s Compensation Act at the time of the injury; (3) the accident causing the injury and death arose out of the employment of Burnham; and (4) the decedent’s average weekly wage was $75.

The claim arose out of the death of Moore, who was the driver of a truck which was leased to Burnham. While in the State of Ohio, Moore presumably was killed on October 9, 1960, at approximately 3:00 A. M., by a shot from a pistol he had purchased and had with him. There were no eye witnesses to the shooting to report whether such was accidental, self inflicted, or *170 by the act of some unknown person. The dependents of the deceased filed a claim for Workmen’s Compensation benefits. Burnham denies the deceased was its employee, denies the parties were subject to the Mississippi Workmen’s Compensation Act, denies that the deceased was performing service growing out of and in the course of his employment, denies that the accident causing the death arose out of the alleged employment, and denies specifically that Burnham was insured under the Mississippi Workmen’s Compensation Act at the time of the injury. These denials were urged in the circuit court.

In the former hearings, and as in this appeal, the contention of the appellants is that the deceased was not an employee of Burnham and that, even if he had been, the Mississippi Workmen’s Compensation Commission had no jurisdiction in the matter. Prom an adverse ruling by the Attorney Referee, which was affirmed by the Commission and then by the Circuit Court of Harrison County, this appeal by both appellants is perfected. The errors assigned by the appellant are as follows :

1. The circuit court erred in affirming the order of the Workmen’s Compensation Commission dated March 19, 1963, as amended by the order of the Commission dated March 25, 1963, which affirmed the order of the Attorney Referee dated December 11, 1962, for the reason that (1) the order was contrary to the law in that it held (a) that the relationship of employer and employee existed, at the time of the injury and death, between Burnham and Moore, deceased; (b) that the parties were subject to the Mississippi Workmen’s Compensation Act at the time of the injury; (c) that the accident causing the injury and death arose out of the employment with Burnham. It is apparent, therefore, that the assignment of error covers the same basic contentions which were made by the appellants in the hear *171 ing before the Attorney Beferee, the entire Workmen’s Compensation Commission, and the Circuit Court of Harrison County.

The record in this case discloses the following facts: One Bobert Howard Bates, who resides in Long Beach, Mississippi, was on and prior to October 9, 1960, engaged in the household furniture moving, and furniture business; that locally he performed his task of moving-furniture and household goods on his own, but on an interstate basis he was forced to lease his moving equipment to Burnham, or to some other company duly authorized and permitted to engage in interstate commerce. Bates did not have any certificate or permit authorizing him to operate in his own name in interstate commerce. The record shows that Bates had two employees, one named Lloyd Lavon Moore, the deceased herein, and one named Prank Higginbotham. The record discloses that Bates had leased from one Dumas Milner the tractor truck and trailer involved. The record shows that in accordance with his practice, Bates had leased this truck for approximately two years and that during that period of time the deceased, Moore, had been working for him. The record shows that for approximately a year and a half Bates had leased this truck to the Bed Ball Express; that upon terminating his operations with Bed Ball Express he then leased the truck and signed the lease agreement with Burnham. The record further shows that during the first two months under this new contract with Burnham, the deceased, Moore, did not drive the truck because of an injury to his back and he was not able to do so, but that after recovering from his back injury he drove the truck for a period of about five months, until his death. The record shows that Bates fixed Moore’s salary at $75 per week; that Burnham had nothing whatsoever to do with fixing the amount. The record shows that Bates and Moore were very close friends and that Bates had negotiated the *172 lease of the truck in order to give Moore employment. The record further shows that subsequent to deducting the $75 per week salary and after deducting the truck expenses of gas, oil, lubrication, and repairs, all of which Burnham advanced, and after paying Burnham its hauling charges, any balance left would be divided equally between Bates and Moore. The record shows that while Burnham could complain to Bates about any inefficiency of Moore’s services and require Bates to furnish them a new driver, they could not discharge Moore from Bates’ employment; that only Bates could discharge Moore as a driver or an operator of the truck, but Burnham could refuse to let Moore haul the property they were transporting. Bates, however, could discharge Moore at any time he desired. There was only an oral contract, an understanding, between friends. The truck was in Bates’ name, and the lease agreement was entered into between Bates and Burnham. The record shows that Moore proceeded to operate the truck as its driver, after the lease agreement between Bates and Burnham had been consummated. Burnham had no authority to terminate, to increase or to decrease the salary which Bates had agreed to pay Moore. The record shows that at the time of his death the truck had been operating at a $500 per month loss so that there was no division of returns above expenses in the operation of the truck between Bates and Moore. The record shows that Bates deducted the social security and withholding tax from Moore’s salary. The record shows that if Moore needed help in loading or unloading the truck, he had the authority to employ help and pay for the same from money which Burnham had advanced him, but that when the settlements were finally made, deductions were taken from the money earned so that it was against Bates that this advance was actually charged. Bates had to maintain the truck, pay for its repairs, pay for the oil, gas and incidentals necessary for its operation as pro *173 vided for in the lease agreement. It appears that Burn-ham advanced the money to Moore but deducted any advances which had been spent by Moore in carrying out the terms and conditions of the contract before any settlement was made with Bates.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Rice v. Burlington Motor Carriers, Inc.
839 So. 2d 602 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2003)
Evans v. Marko Planning, Inc.
447 So. 2d 130 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1984)
Craig v. Decatur Petroleum Haulers, Inc.
340 So. 2d 1127 (Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama, 1976)
Space Steel Corp. v. Jones
248 So. 2d 807 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1971)
C. H. Leavell & Co. v. Doster
233 So. 2d 775 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1970)
Mitchell v. Craft
211 So. 2d 509 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1968)
L. & A. CONSTRUCTION COMPANY v. McCharen
198 So. 2d 240 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1967)
Browning v. Shackelford
196 So. 2d 365 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1967)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
164 So. 2d 733, 250 Miss. 165, 1964 Miss. LEXIS 453, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burnham-van-service-inc-v-dependents-of-moore-miss-1964.