Cody v. Disco, Inc.

628 P.2d 766, 52 Or. App. 543, 1981 Ore. App. LEXIS 2566
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedMay 26, 1981
DocketNo. 36-960, CA 17296
StatusPublished

This text of 628 P.2d 766 (Cody v. Disco, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cody v. Disco, Inc., 628 P.2d 766, 52 Or. App. 543, 1981 Ore. App. LEXIS 2566 (Or. Ct. App. 1981).

Opinion

VAN HOOMISSEN, J.

This is an action for negligence brought by a California worker against an Oregon employer. The trial court dismissed plaintiff’s complaint on the ground that plaintiff’s action was barred by Oregon’s Workers’ Compensation Law. Plaintiff appeals.

The facts are not in dispute. In 1974, plaintiff, a truck driver, was hauling sugar out of San Jose, California, for Refrigerated Transport Co., Inc. (RTC), a Georgia corporation doing business in California. The sugar was packaged in twenty-five pound bags which were stacked on pallets. Each loaded pallet weighed approximately 2750 pounds. Plaintiff was directed to deliver about one-fourth of his load to defendant’s store in Beaverton, Oregon. Plaintiff had never made a delivery to defendant before. When he arrived at defendant’s store, he was told by defendant’s employee where to unload. Plaintiff’s contract made him responsible for unloading. Defendant’s employees were not required to assist in the unloading, but only to verify the delivery.

One of defendant’s employees volunteered to help plaintiff unload. That employee fetched a piece of metal to make a bridge between the loading dock and the truck trailer and brought out a pallet jack which truckers frequently use while unloading. As defendant’s employee began jacking up the first pallet, one of the pallet boards broke. The pallet was jacked up again and plaintiff and defendant’s employee both were working to move it when the load became stuck on a splinter of wood from the broken board. As plaintiff attempted to remove the splinter, the load shifted and some of the bags of sugar fell on plaintiff, injuring his back.

Plaintiff is covered by California workers’ compensation, and he has received benefits from that source. Plaintiff brought this action against defendant as a third party whose negligence he alleged caused his injuries. In the trial court defendant argued that plaintiff was not entitled to bring this action, citing ORS 656.154(1),1 which provides:

[546]*546"If the injury to a workman is due to the negligence or wrong of a third person not in the same employ, the injured workman, or if death results from the injury, his widow, children or other dependents, as the case may be, may elect to seek a remedy against such third person. However, no action shall be brought against any such third person if he or his workman causing the injury was, at the time of the injury, on premises over which he had joint supervision and control with the employer of the injured workman and was an employer subject to ORS 656.001 and 656.794.”

Plaintiff contends that the defense of joint supervision and control is not available here because his California employer was not covered by Oregon’s workers’ compensation law. He contends further that, even if the defense is available, it does not apply because he was engaged in a "pickup or delivery.” ORS 656.154(3) provides:

"No person engaged in pickup or delivery of any goods, wares or merchandise to or from the premises of any employer other than his own shall be deemed to have joint supervision or control over the premises of a third party employer.”

Assuming arguendo the "joint supervision and control” provision of ORS 656.154(1) would otherwise apply here, it would clearly be inapplicable if plaintiff was "engaged in pickup or delivery” within the meaning of ORS 656.154(3).

On its face, ORS 656.154(3) would appear to apply to the activity in which plaintiff was engaged at defendant’s store at the time of his injury. However, the Supreme Court has interpreted ORS 656.154(3) to exclude much activity which would appear to a layman to be "pickup or delivery.”

In Boling v. Nork, 232 Or 461, 375 P2d 548 (1962), the Supreme Court determined the legislature did not intend the pickup and delivery exception

"* * * to apply to operations such as loading logs, unloading logs, and like activities which ordinarily require the massing of men and machinery for such purposes.” 232 Or at 465.

The court applied this "massing of men and machinery” analysis in Childers v. Schaecher Lbr. Co., 234 Or 230, 380 P2d 993 (1963)(logging operations); Gorham v. Swanson, [547]*547253 Or 133, 453 P2d 670 (1969)(loading of two-ton bundles of lumber with a forklift); Patnode v. Carver Electric, 253 Or 89, 453 P2d 675 (1969)(unloading heavy electrical equipment with a forklift); and Cogburn v. Roberts Supply, 256 Or 582, 475 P2d 67 (1970)(unloading 16 to 24 foot lengths of culvert pipe weighing about 600 pounds). Hadeed v. Wil. Hi-Grade Concrete Co., 238 Or 513, 395 P2d 553 (1964), involved a defendant whose employers delivered as many as 100 truckloads of concrete per day to plaintiff’s employer’s construction site. Each delivery required cooperation between defendant’s drivers and plaintiff’s hod carriers, who hauled the concrete away in wheelbarrows. The court held:

" * * * [Tjhere are found-here a concert of effort and a mingling of the employees of both employers and their common exposure to the hazards of the work going forward, all designed to facilitate its accomplishment. Within the construction heretofore placed by us upon ORS 656.154 (see, e.g., Pruett v. Lininger et al, 224 Or 614, 356 P2d 547 (1960)), the premises where plaintiff was injured were premises over which the two employers had joint supervision and control.” 238 Or 516-17.

In Green v. Market Supply Co., 257 Or 451, 479 P2d 736 (1971), plaintiff was injured while voluntarily helping defendant’s employees load a 400 pound meat grinder. The court said:

"It is apparent that in deciding Boling v. Nork we had in mind a continuum, running from the simple delivery of a parcel on one end to a complex operation requiring the 'massing of men and machinery’ on the other. We think this case falls somewhere in the middle and is a pickup and delivery situation as those words are commonly used. We are persuaded to that conclusion by the findings of the trial court that (1) defendant’s employees were exclusively responsible for making the delivery; (2) they were capable of accomplishing it themselves; (3) it was not necessary for any employee of Fred Meyer, Inc., to help with the delivery; and (4) it was not necessary to use any machinery to make the delivery.” 257 Or at 455-56.

In Perkins v. Willamette Industries, 273 Or 566, 542 P2d 473 (1975), the defendant operated a lumber and plywood operation which produced wood shavings as a byproduct. The shavings were blown into large bins in which they were stored pending removal.

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Related

Green v. Market Supply Co.
479 P.2d 736 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1971)
Perkins v. Willamette Industries, Inc.
542 P.2d 473 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1975)
Cole v. Zidell Explorations, Inc.
550 P.2d 1194 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1976)
Childers v. Schaecher Lumber Co.
380 P.2d 993 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1963)
Gorham v. Swanson
453 P.2d 670 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1969)
Patnode v. CARVER ELECTRIC & SIGN SUPPLIES CO.
453 P.2d 675 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1969)
Boling v. Nork
375 P.2d 548 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1962)
Cogburn v. Roberts Supply Co.
475 P.2d 67 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1970)
Deitz v. Savaria
491 P.2d 620 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1971)
Pruett v. LININGER
356 P.2d 547 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1960)
Hadeed v. Willamette Hi-Grade Concrete Co.
395 P.2d 553 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1964)
Warner v. Synnes
235 P. 305 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1924)
Misner v. Hercules, Inc.
552 P.2d 542 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1976)

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Bluebook (online)
628 P.2d 766, 52 Or. App. 543, 1981 Ore. App. LEXIS 2566, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cody-v-disco-inc-orctapp-1981.