Himes v. State Industrial Court

1969 OK 56, 452 P.2d 570, 1969 Okla. LEXIS 335
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 25, 1969
DocketNo. 42913
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 1969 OK 56 (Himes v. State Industrial Court) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Himes v. State Industrial Court, 1969 OK 56, 452 P.2d 570, 1969 Okla. LEXIS 335 (Okla. 1969).

Opinion

BLACKBIRD, Justice.

This is an original proceeding to review a State Industrial Court award of disability compensation to the respondent, Dell Nichols, hereinafter referred to as “claimant”.

When injured, on June 23, 1967, claimant was drilling through a concrete block with what was referred to both as a “jack hammer”, and a “small hand drill”, in the course of termite-proofing a private dwelling for his employer, who had no workmen’s compensation insurance.

At the trial, there was some question as to the identity and status of claimant’s employer. The Form 3 claimant filed in said Industrial Court named both “Himes Sand Blasting & Waterproofing Co.” and “J. E. Sampson dba Sampson Termite Control”, as “Employer”, but, in his order making the award, the trial judge found that claimant’s employer, on the date of his injury, was “David Himes dba Sampson Termite Control”, and entered the award accordingly.

On Himes’ appeal to the State Industrial Court en banc, said court modified the trial judge’s previous order by finding that J. E. Sampson and David Himes “were joint venturers under the name of Sampson Termite Control * * *” and, that J. E. Sampson and David Himes were jointly and severally liable to claimant; and said court en banc affirmed the award, as thus modified.

In their brief in support of their petition for review in this court, respondents assert that the State' Industrial Court’s award cannot stand for two reasons, namely: (1) Being employed in “the termite control business”, claimant was not engaged in a “hazardous employment” within the meaning of this State’s Workmen’s Compensation Act; and (2) J. E. Sampson was neither a joint venturer with David Himes, nor an employer of the claimant.

As to “(1)” above, dealt with under their brief’s “PROPOSITION 1”, respondents point out that the termite control business is not one of those “hazardous employments” specifically named in the Workmen’s Compensation Act, Tit. 85 O.S. 1961, § 2, and they deny that, on the basis of the evidence, it should be held to be either a “work shop” (where machinery is used) or building construction or repair, within the meaning of those terms as used in the Act. They argue: “The act of termiting a property actually has nothing to do with the structure or building itself, except incidentally. All witnesses have agreed that the primary function involved is impregnating the soil with chemicals to prevent the termites from reaching the structure or building. It does not seem possible that anyone could determine that this is an improvement, alteration or repair of the building or structure itself.” Though they disclaim any contention that termite control, prevention, eradication, and/or extermination comes within the provisions of the Act excluding “Agriculture”, respondents say that this business is more akin to an “agricultural function” than to building construction, or repair, since it “is generally concerned with the working of the soil around a structure or building to control access thereto by insects by way of a chemical inserted in the soil.”

On the other hand, claimant contends, in substance, that the treating of a house for termites, and, at least some of the acts in[572]*572volved in accomplishing this, come under the heading of “improving or repairing a building or structure” as this phrase is usually understood; and he points to Mr. Sampson’s testimony concerning the construction work usually necessary to be done on a house to effectively guard it against termites, such as removing wooden floor braces that come in contact with the ground, and replacing them with masonry supports based four inches underground. In support of his position, claimant cites Holsey Appliance Co. v. Burrow, Okl., 281 P.2d 426, in which we held that the employment of a worker engaged in erecting a television aerial on a building comes within the definition in Sec. 2, supra, of “construction work and engineering works”. Claimant also says that the Structural Pest Control Act (Chap. 386, S.L. 1967, Tit. 2 O.S. 1967 and 1968 Supp., § 3-171 et seq.) requires the drilling of holes in concrete at certain intervals and replacing, with concrete blocks, floor joists that touch the ground.

While we observe no provision of the Structural Pest Control Act, supra, specifically mentioning the replacement of floor joists, we notice that said Act’s second section’s definition of the term “structural pest control” specifically includes “* * * the usé of * * * mechanical devices or structural modifications under whatever name known, for the purpose of preventing, controlling or eradicating insects * * in structures or on the area where structures are to be built * * * We also notice from Mr. Sampson’s testimony that termite prevention, or control, is effected, at least partially, in new houses constructed “today” (as he put it) by the installation of “caps”, which apparently refers (among other devices) to the metal termite shields that are installed, between the wooden floors and masonry foundations in such homes. He further testified that the “only way you would ever have to drill a concrete block would be where the wood sill sits on the foundation wall.”

Surely, if carpeting, installed as a substitute for a structure’s finish flooring, may be considered an integral part of its construction (Southwest Title & Trust Co. v. Norman Lumber Co., Okl., 441 P.2d 430, 435) such termite shields must also be so considered, and their installation be deemed “construction work” within the meaning of that term as used in the Workmen’s Compensation Act’s Section 2, supra. Furthermore, if such part of the work of constructing a new house is considered a “hazardous employment” under the Act, it would be a strange anomaly if work of a similar nature, entailing modification, replacement, or rebuilding of parts of a previously erected structure, to accomplish the same purpose of termite control, were not also regarded as “construction work”. This court has already determined that the rebuilding of a structure is “construction work” within the terms of the Act (Denbo v. Roark, 196 Okl. 386, 164 P.2d 977) and similarly we think it makes no difference whether termite control is accomplished by rebuilding, or changing, parts of an already built structure, or is accomplished by incorporating termite control devices in original construction. Both are “construction work” under the liberal interpretation of the Workmen’s Compensation Act enjoined upon this court by the legislative enactment itself. See Holsey Appliance Co. v. Burrow, supra. Here, we have reached conclusions in this case, similar to those indicated in the cited case, and hold that the Industrial Court did not err in its finding that the claimant was engaged in “hazardous employment * * * within the terms and meaning of the Workmen’s Compensation Law * * *” at the time he was injured.

Under their PROPOSITION 2, respondents contend that the Industrial Court En Banc erred in modifying the trial judge’s order by converting claimant’s award into a joint and several one against Sampson and Himes. They say that the arrangement between Sampson and Himes “does not seem to fit the pattern required for a joint venture” and they take the position that only Himes may be considered an employer of the claimant.

[573]*573The evidence shows that Himes has no license (referred to by claimant as a “Pesticide Applicator’s permit”) as is required by the Structural Pest Control Act (sec. 3-173, Tit. 2, supra) of those engaged in the business of Structural Pest Control in Oklahoma.

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1969 OK 56, 452 P.2d 570, 1969 Okla. LEXIS 335, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/himes-v-state-industrial-court-okla-1969.