Jordan v. Standard Accident Insurance Company

339 S.W.2d 267, 1960 Tex. App. LEXIS 2532
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedSeptember 22, 1960
Docket6356
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 339 S.W.2d 267 (Jordan v. Standard Accident Insurance Company) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jordan v. Standard Accident Insurance Company, 339 S.W.2d 267, 1960 Tex. App. LEXIS 2532 (Tex. Ct. App. 1960).

Opinion

ANDERSON, Chief Justice.

Relying upon Article 8306, Sec. 19, Vernon’s Ann.Civ.St., as a basis for claiming under the Texas Workmen’s Compensation Law, and by way of appealing from an adverse ruling of the Industrial Accident Board, appellant sued in one of the district courts of Jefferson County to recover compensation for an injury he received in Canada while in the course of his employment as an employee of Oklahoma Pipeline Constructors. He sued in Jefferson County upon the theory that the contract of hiring was made there. Appellee answered by general denial and by specially pleading that appellant was not hired in Texas, but at Buffalo, New York, and was not a Texas employee at the time of the accident or at any other time while employed by Oklahoma Pipeline Constructors. Trial to a jury was terminated by an instructed verdict. Having concluded that there was no evidence to justify classifying appellant as a Texas employee, the trial court granted the defendant’s motion for an instructed verdict at conclusion of the evidence. Judgment for the defendant was entered on the verdict, and the plaintiff appealed.

The appeal presents but one question: that of whether the trial court erred in directing a verdict for the defendant. We hold that the court did not err.

The law of the case was thus stated by the Supreme Court in Southern Underwriters v. Gallagher, 135 Tex. 41, 136 S.W.2d 590, 592:

*269 “Under the plain provisions of Section 19 of Article 8306, supra, as interpreted and construed in the two cases above mentioned, before an employee injured outside the territorial limits of this state can recover for such injury under our compensation statutes, he must prove that, at the time of such injury, he occupied the status of a Texas employee incidentally or temporarily sent out of the state to perform labor or services. The phrase, ‘who has been hired in this State,’ has no reference to the place where the contract of hiring took place. The test is: What was the status of the employee at the time of injury with regard to being a Texas employee? If, at such time, he occupied the status of a Texas employee, he is entitled to protection under our Compensation Statutes, even though he was working out of the state. On the other hand, if the employee is hired or contracted with in this state to go out of this state to perform labor or services, he cannot claim protection under our Compensation Law merely because the contract was made or entered into in this state. Also, if a person is hired to work in this state, — that is, if, under the contract of hiring, such person becomes a Texas employee in the sense that it is contemplated that his services are to be rendered in this state, such employee is protected by our Compensation Law, even though he is first sent incidentally or temporarily out of the state to perform labor or services, and the mere fact that such employee performs his first services out of this state will not defeat his right to protection under our compensation statutes. In any event, before the statute under consideration can be applied in favor of an employee injured out of this state, it must be shown that he occupied the status of a Texas employee before leaving the state. Also, it must be further shown that while occupying such status he was incidentally or temporarily sent out of the state by the Texas employer to perform labor or services for such employer.”

In discussing the facts of the Gallagher case, the court said:

“It is undisputed that Gallagher never did any character of work and never performed any character of services for the Drilling Company in Texas prior to the time he went to work for such company in New Mexico. He therefore cannot be said to have been a Texas employee of the Drilling Company, simply laid off for a time, on the occasion when he was sent out of the state to work at Jal, New Mexico. It follows that he cannot be classed as a Texas employee under facts similar to those involved in the Volelc case, supra. As shown above, the contract under which Gallagher performed labor in New Mexico was made in Texas, but the place where the contract was made and entered into is not the determining factor in deciding a case like this. Texas Employers’ Insurance Ass’n v. Volek, supra.”

The court further said:

“We have given the questions above discussed unusual consideration because of their importance to Texas workmen, employers, and compensation insurance carriers. We are fully aware of the rule that our Workmen’s Compensation Law should be liberally construed in favor of Texas employees. In spite of this rule, we cannot bring ourselves to the conclusion that it is the intent or purpose of such law to extend its protection to an employee injured in a foreign state, where the undisputed facts show that such employee never, in any sense, occupied the status of a Texas employee prior to leaving the state.”

Appellant in the case at bar, a welder, admitted that, irrespective of where the contract of hiring was made, he was hired to work in Canada. We quote from his testimony:

“Q. Regardless of when and how or when and where you were hired, you were hired to do welding work and welding work only, is that correct, sir? A. That is right.
“Q. And that welding work was to be done altogether in Canada, was it *270 not? A. The job was in Canada, yes.
“Q. Now, you just finished saying that you were hired to do welding and nothing else but welding, is that correct? A. On a pipeline, yes, sir.
“Q. Therefore, whatever work you hired out to do was to be done entirely in Canada, was it not? A. Yes, sir, that is right.
“Q. And the first welding work you did for this company was in Canada after you had already left the United States — not only the State of Texas but had left the United States, is that correct? A. That’s .right.
“Q. So then the first work that you were hired to do and the first work you did was done in Canada, is that right? A. Welding — yes, sir.
“Q. That is what you were hired to do — welding? A. That’s right.”

Appellant also admitted that, to the ex7 tent that he was hired before he entered Canada, he was only hired conditionally. In keeping with a general custom that prevails with .reference to hiring welders, it was understood that appellant was not to consider himself finally employed until he passed a welding test at the job site.

Appellant had not previously worked in Texas for Oklahoma Pipeline Constructors, and it was not contemplated that he would work for it in Texas when the Canadian pipe line was finished. In fact, the company neither had Texas work under way nor in prospect.

Appellant has been under no misconception about the basic law of the case. In an effort to prove that he was a Texas employee who was injured while temporarily working outside the state, he endeavored to prove that he rendered Oklahoma Pipeline Constructors a service in Texas before he departed for Canada, and that he thereby acquired the status of a Texas employee.

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Bluebook (online)
339 S.W.2d 267, 1960 Tex. App. LEXIS 2532, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jordan-v-standard-accident-insurance-company-texapp-1960.