Johanson Bros. Builders v. Board of Review, Industrial Commission

222 P.2d 563, 118 Utah 384, 1950 Utah LEXIS 189
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 3, 1950
Docket7393
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 222 P.2d 563 (Johanson Bros. Builders v. Board of Review, Industrial Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Johanson Bros. Builders v. Board of Review, Industrial Commission, 222 P.2d 563, 118 Utah 384, 1950 Utah LEXIS 189 (Utah 1950).

Opinions

LATIMER, Justice.

Petition to review a decision of the Board of Review, Industrial Commission of Utah, upholding a ruling of the Appeals Tribunal, Department of Employment Security, charging Johanson Brothers Builders and Carl F. Johanson with liability for unemployment contributions for the years 1947 and 1948. Petitioners contend that they were not employers within the provisions of the Utah Employment Security Act, and the amounts distributed to workers by them are not subject to unemployment contributions.

During the year 1946, Carl F. Johanson and one Robert Clayton were employed as mason and mason tender, respectively, by a brick contractor. In early 1947 Johanson started looking for jobs on his own because his employer did not have enough work to keep him steadily employed. Clayton was also working intermittently because of lack of work and Johanson asked if he would work with him on a bricklaying contract which he was seeking to obtain. Johanson applied for and obtained a contractor’s license, issued to him in the name of “Johanson Brothers Builders.” He explained that at that time his brothers were not associated with him, but he chose that name for the reason that he contemplated organizing a group of several persons as a “brotherhood” to undertake and perform contracts for bricklaying jobs, and that the organization was to function as a cooperative in which all who participated would share in the profits.

In March of 1947 Johanson obtained a contract to perform the bricklaying work on a house. He had Clayton work with him in completing that agreement. Johanson had previously purchased about $200 worth of equipment and this was used to assist in the work. Johanson and Clayton agreed that the money received on the contract [387]*387would be distributed as follows: First, Johanson would receive 10 per cent of the amount received for the use of his equipment; second, all costs for materials were to be paid; and third, the remainder would be divided between Clayton and Johanson on a 2 and 3 basis, giving Clayton two-fifths and Johanson three-fifths of the remaining amount. They worked for about six weeks to complete the job and the money received on the contract was allocated in accordance with their agreement.

On the next job, Einar Johanson, a brother of Carl, joined them and some adjustments were made in the division of the proceeds. Subsequently, as other workers joined the group, a so-called “unit system” was established, whereby a worker’s share of the proceeds remaining after paying for the materials and the use of the equipment was set in accordance with his experience and ability and the number of workers. According to Johanson, if the group had two or more contracts to perform at one time, each worker received his proportionate share in each job, whether he actually performed labor on all the jobs or not. No payments were made to any of the workers until the money for the contract had been received from the property owner, and in those cases where the money was not collected the workers received no payment.

Many of the workmen engaged by the brotherhood were inexperienced in laying bricks and they received a smaller share than that received by Johanson and some of the more experienced workers. Under the system as planned, the basis of payment for each of the workers was to be discussed and set by the group, but who was to have the final say in the event of a dispute does not appear in the record unless it would be the man who controlled the purse strings. The manner of determining the interest of each worker and the amount to be paid him seemed to be nebulous and was not fully understood by some of the [388]*388members. The so-called “unit” had many undisclosed factors and was, in part, established in terms of experience rather than in terms of dollars and cents per hour or day. With new workers joining and others leaving, the gradations of experience were many and the interests fluctuating. Under the plan as testified to the unit of the individual workers would expand and contract from day to day as their efficiency improved and the membership increased or decreased. There was a large turnover of workers in the group and during 1948 at least seventeen different workmen were associated with the organization.

Carl Johanson had the sole authority to make contracts for himself and the association from the time the scheme originated until October, 1948, at which time an oral partnership agreement was entered into between Carl F. Johanson, Einar Johanson and Willard Johanson, Carl’s brothers, and Robert Clayton. This agreement was reduced to a written partnership agreement and signed by the four partners on February 15, 1949. Under its terms the agreement assumed the aspects of a legal partnership for those members named above who entered into the contract. By the partnership agreement each of the partners was authorized to make contracts for the partnership, except that contracts or purchases involving a liability of over $1,000 were subject to approval of a majority of the partners; each partner was given the right to discharge an employee, in case any employees were hired; all gains, profits, losses and expenses were to be distributed and borne equally among the partners; and upon Carl F. Johan-son was imposed the duty of keeping the books and accounts of the partnership, with each of the partners having the right to free access to the books and accounts. Carl F. Johanson continued to control all money, finances and the payment of obligations.

For the period involved, Carl F. Johanson handled all the [389]*389financial details for the organization. He made practically all collections, but occasionally had the help of his brother, Einar. The money received was deposited in the joint personal bank'accounts of himself and his wife and was co-mingled with their personal and farm-income funds. He and his wife were the only persons authorized to draw checks on that account. When he drew a check for the organization, he placed a Johanson Bothers stamp on the check and then signed his own name. In this way he attempted to separate the brotherhood funds from his personal funds.

To illustrate the manner of operating and the confusion existing as to the relationship of the workers, we use the experience of two boys. During the summer of 1948, Thayer Christensen, then fifteen years of age, and Tal-madge Robinson, seventeen years of age, joined the organization. Neither had any previous experience in the kind of work required. After they had worked about three weeks, they received a check for $75.00, but were told at that time that they were overpaid $35.00. They were working six days a week, from about seven o’clock in the morning until seven o’clock at night, they were uninformed as to how their compensation was determined, and they had nothing to say about how or when they were paid. They had no voice in determining what contracts would be accepted and performed by the organization, or upon which job they would work on any particular day. Einar Jo-hanson had explained the working arrangement to them, but they had little understanding of the scheme they were a part of, as they could not determine how they acquired an interest in a business. These boys worked for the organization from the middle of June until the last of August, 1948, and shortly before the end of the latter month they told Johanson they would like to settle up because it would soon be time to start school. At this time [390]

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Bluebook (online)
222 P.2d 563, 118 Utah 384, 1950 Utah LEXIS 189, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/johanson-bros-builders-v-board-of-review-industrial-commission-utah-1950.