DiMaggio v. Johnston Audio/D & M Sound

19 S.W.3d 185, 2000 Mo. App. LEXIS 886, 2000 WL 722718
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 6, 2000
DocketNo. WD 57737
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 19 S.W.3d 185 (DiMaggio v. Johnston Audio/D & M Sound) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
DiMaggio v. Johnston Audio/D & M Sound, 19 S.W.3d 185, 2000 Mo. App. LEXIS 886, 2000 WL 722718 (Mo. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

ROBERT G. ULRICH, J.

Fillipo DiMaggio appeals the decision of the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission (“Commission”) denying his claim for worker’s compensation. Mr. DiMaggio claims the Commission erred in affirming the Administrative Law Judge’s (“ALJ’s”) determination that Mr. DiMaggio was neither acting in any employment capacity with Johnston Audio/D & M Sound (“D & [187]*187M Sound”) nor that Mr. DiMaggio was a statutory employee of D & M Sound. The decision of the Commission is affirmed.

Factual Background

Viewed in the light most favorable to the Commission’s award, the facts are as follows: D & M Sound is a retail business that sells stereo and audio equipment. In 1991, Mr. DiMaggio established a business arrangement with D & M Sound whereby D <& M Sound would direct its customers who purchased car stereo equipment to Mr. DiMaggio’s business, FilAudio. Mr. DiMaggio’s business, operating in a separate location, installed car stereo equipment for the general public including customers referred from D & M Sound and other local stereo equipment retailers. Under the referral arrangement, D & M Sound gave the customer the option of paying D & M Sound for the price of the installation, with D & M Sound then paying FilAudio (after deducting a “service fee”), or the customer could arrange and pay for the installation directly with FilAu-dio. When the customer brought the car stereo equipment and their vehicle to Fi-lAudio’s garage, FilAudio employees would then install the stereo equipment for the customer.

Sometime after this business arrangement was established, Mr. DiMaggio began working as a salesperson at D & M Sound.1 Mr. DiMaggio worked sporadically, generally filling in when the sales staff was short-handed or during the busy times of the year. D & M Sound would pay Mr. DiMaggio for his services as a salesperson at D & M Sound by making a check payable to “FilAudio” for the gross amount of his wages. Mr. DiMaggio and D & M Sound also had an arrangement whereby Mr. DiMaggio would “work off’ speakers and other components that he purchased from D & M Sound.

In September 1994, a customer came to FilAudio’s garage to have car stereo speakers installed. Mr. DiMaggio informed the customer that he did not sell speakers and the customer would have to purchase speakers elsewhere and bring them back to FilAudio for the installation. The customer then purchased car stereo speakers from D & M Sound and paid for the speakers and the installation at D & M Sound. Mr. DiMaggio was not involved in the sale of these speakers. The customer then took his vehicle and the speakers to Mr. DiMaggio’s business, FilAudio, to have the speakers installed by an employee of FilAudio. The customer was dissatisfied with the installation of the speakers and called the manager of D & M Sound who suggested that the customer contact Fi-lAudio with his complaint. The customer insisted that D & M Sound’s manager inspect the work. The manager thereafter arranged for the customer, the manager and Mr. DiMaggio to meet at D & M Sound to discuss the customer’s complaints.

The customer, D & M Sound’s manager, and Mr. DiMaggio met in the parking lot adjacent to D & M Sound on September 12,1994. The customer and Mr. DiMaggio argued over the installation of the speakers, and a physical altercation ensued between the two men resulting in injury to Mr. DiMaggio. Thereafter, Mr. DiMaggio filed a worker’s compensation claim against D & M Sound for his injuries. FilAudio did not carry worker’s compensation insurance.

A hearing was held on January 26, 1999, and the ALJ found that at the time of the altercation with the customer, Mr. DiMaggio was not acting in any employment capacity with D & M Sound. The ALJ determined that Mr. DiMaggio was an employee of D & M Sound as a part-time salesperson; Mr. DiMaggio’s business, Fi-lAudio, had a business relationship with D [188]*188& M Sound; and, as part of that business relationship, D & M Sound would direct its customers to FilAudio for installations. The ALJ also found that Mr. DiMaggio’s injury was a result of his employment with FilAudio and not with D & M Sound. Mr. DiMaggio appealed the ALJ’s order, and the Commission affirmed on September 3, 1999, finding that the ALJ’s decision was supported by competent and substantial evidence on the record as a whole. Mr. DiMaggio appeals from the final award of the Commission denying his claim for worker’s compensation.

Standard of Review

The Commission’s decision must be upheld if it is supported by competent and substantial evidence on the whole record. Seaton v. Cabool Lease, Inc., 7 S.W.3d 501, 504 (Mo.App. S.D.1999); Leslie v. School Services and Leasing, Inc., 947 S.W.2d 97, 99 (Mo.App. W.D.1997). All evidence and inferences are viewed in the light most favorable to the award, and the award will be set aside only if the Commission’s findings are contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence. Seaton, 7 S.W.3d at 504. However, “[findings and awards of the Commission which are clearly the interpretation or application of the law, as distinguished from a determination of facts, are not binding on the court and fall within the court’s province of independent review and correction where erroneous.” Leslie, 947 S.W.2d at 99. A finding that a worker’s compensation claimant is or is not an employee represents an application of law, not a finding of fact, and therefore, is subject to correction by this court. Id.

Point I

In his first point on appeal, Mr. DiMaggio contends that the Commission erred in denying his worker’s compensation claim based upon the ALJ’s finding that the incident giving rise to Mr. DiMaggio’s injuries did not arise out of Mr. DiMaggio’s employment with D & M Sound and that Mr. DiMaggio was not a statutory employee of D & M Sound. Mr. DiMaggio argues that he had an employer-employee relationship with D & M Sound at the time of the incident because (1) he was working in the service of D & M Sound as a salesman and/or installer of car stereo equipment for the joint benefit of D & M Sound and FilAudio at the time he was injured, (2) D & M Sound had the right to terminate and control much of claimant’s work activities, and (3) D & M Sound exercised control over Mr. DiMaggio in arranging the customer meeting in which Mr. DiMaggio was injured.

Employer-Employee Relationship

Missouri Worker’s Compensation Law defines an employee as any “person in the service of any employer ... under any contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written.” § 287.020.1, RSMo 1994.2 “A claimant establishes an employer/employee relationship if the claimant worked in the service of the alleged employer and the employer controlled these services.” Leslie, 947 S.W.2d at 99. The pivotal question in determining the existence of an employer-employee relationship is whether the employer had the right to control the means and manner of the service, as distinguished from controlling the ultimate results of the service. Watkins v. Bi-State Development Agency,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
19 S.W.3d 185, 2000 Mo. App. LEXIS 886, 2000 WL 722718, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dimaggio-v-johnston-audiod-m-sound-moctapp-2000.