Lovewell v. Lovewell

164 N.W.2d 75, 1969 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 732
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedJanuary 14, 1969
DocketNo. 53160
StatusPublished

This text of 164 N.W.2d 75 (Lovewell v. Lovewell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lovewell v. Lovewell, 164 N.W.2d 75, 1969 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 732 (iowa 1969).

Opinion

STUART, Justice.

The husband filed a claim for workmen’s compensation against his wife and her insurance carrier. The deputy industrial commissioner as sole arbitrator, the commissioner upon review and the district court upon appeal held for claimant. We reverse.

The only issue necessary to our decision is whether, assuming claimant was an employee of his wife, he was excluded from workmen’s compensation coverage under that portion of section 85.61(3) Code of Iowa, which provides:

“The following persons shall not be deemed ‘workmen’ or ‘employees’ * * *
“c. A person * * * standing in a representative capacity of the employer, * * *»

This exclusion was unique to the Iowa Workmen’s Compensation Law. Hamilton v. J. Le Roy Farmer Canning Co., 220 Iowa 25, 261 N.W. 506, 508; Davis, Workmen’s Compensation—Excluded Employment, 16 Drake L.Review 68, 82. It was repealed by chapter 115, Laws of the 62 General Assembly. Unfortunately the injury in question here occurred in 1965 prior to the effective date of the act. (July 1, 1967)

We have considered this particular exclusion several times. Brewer v. Central Construction Co., 241 Iowa 799, 43 N.W.2d 131; Dewey v. National Tank Maintenance Corporation, 233 Iowa 58, 8 N.W.2d 593; Danico v. Davenport Chamber of Commerce, 232 Iowa 318, 5 N.W.2d 619; Schroyer v. Jasper County, 224 Iowa 1391, 279 N.W. 118; Pattee v. Fullerton Lumber Co., 220 Iowa 1181, 263 N.W. 839; Hamilton v. J. Le Roy Farmer Canning Co., 220 Iowa 25, 261 N.W. 506; Kutil v. Floyd Valley Mfg. Co., 205 Iowa 967, 218 N.W. 613. An employee in a representative capacity has been defined as one “entrusted with such broad executive powers as to represent or stand in the place of the employer”. Brewer v. Central Construction Co., 241 Iowa at 803, 43 N.W.2d at 134. The “employer’s alter ego”. Dewey v. National Tank Maintenance Corporation, 233 Iowa at 63, 8 N.W.2d at 596.

In passing on the sufficiency of the evidence to support the award we must consider it in the light most favorable to claimant. Brewer v. Central Construction Co., 241 Iowa 799, 801, 43 N.W.2d 131, 133. Our question is not whether there is sufficient evidence to warrant a decision the commissioner did not make but whether the decision he did make is warranted by the record. Wagner v. Otis Radio and Electric Co., 254 Iowa 990, 994, 119 N.W.2d 751, 753. The burden is on defendant to prove claimant is excluded from coverage under the provisions of section 85.-61(3). Daggett v. Nebraska-Eastern Express, Inc., 252 Iowa 341, 344, 107 N.W.2d 102, 104—105; Dewey v. National Tank Maintenance Corporation, 233 Iowa 58, 63, 8 N.W.2d 593, 596. Even so, we are compelled under this record to hold claimant stood in his wife’s place and represented her in such a manner as to be excluded from coverage under the statute.

There is no conflict in the evidence of the business relationship between the claimant and his wife.

In December 1954 claimant invested $2500 he and his wife had saved from their [77]*77earnings in a gasoline service station. From that time until June 1960 he operated under the trade name of Jim’s 66 Service and had title to the vehicles used in connection with the station.

In June 1960 his driver’s license was suspended and he was ordered to surrender the license plates on all vehicles he owned. As this would put him out of business, he transferred title to the vehicles to his wife. At this time she acquired a sales tax permit, a cigarette permit and a withholding and social security number in her own name. The station continued to operate as Jim’s 66 Service until location and brand of gas were changed. It was then renamed Jim’s 67 Service. Title to the vehicles remained in Mrs. Lovewell’s name. All insurance, including workmen’s compensation, and merchandise were purchased in her name and she was responsible for payment.

There was no change in the method of operating the service station when title was transferred or when the station was moved. Claimant managed the station. He did the mechanical and repair work and kept the books. He prepared the necessary social security and withholding returns for his wife’s signature.

Mrs. Lovewell performed the same duties after she was owner of the business that she performed before. She kept house for claimant, ran after parts for him and when he was very busy, helped wash cars and pump gas.

Mr. and Mrs. Lovewell had only one checking account carried under the station’s trade name upon which either could write checks. Claimant testified “as manager of the station I received a salary of $65 a week. I set the amount at $65.” He never discussed wages with his wife. None were reported for him on social security or withholding tax reports. Claimant “showed as net earnings from self-employment the net profits made on the business known as Jim’s 67 Service”.

Mrs. Lovewell testified:

“Whether I exercise the right or not. I have the right to select the manager of this particular filling station. I have the responsibility for the payment of wages to all the employees of this particular filling station. I have the right to discharge or terminate the relationship of any of these employees. I have a right to control their work. The station is being operated for my benefit and the rest of the family. All of the licenses are in my name. All of the property is in my name. I sign all the necessary forms and returns with all of the Governmental agencies. These are all in my name.”
“I first felt that I had the right to fire my husband in the job that he holds — well, actually is signed over to you and it is your responsibility, you would right then and there know that you had this power, although it being your husband you would probably know it would never come to pass. It’s a standing joke that we talk about.”
“We always worked as a team. In the operation of the station, regardless of how much physical time I may have spent in it prior to the time of transfer to my name, if he needed help I was always there and always available. I would help wash cars and that type of thing before this came in my name also, different areas wherever he needed me. As a family unit, after the children began coming, I contributed by my services as a wife and mother. He contributed in his services in the business. It was always more or less regarded as a family business. It is still more or less regarded in the same way.”

The cases cited above are not factually similar and are helpful only in so far as they defined “representative capacity”. We are unable to escape the conclusion the claimant was standing in the place of his wife and was representing her in the management of the business conducted in her name.

[78]*78The business was transferred to her to keep it in operation.

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Related

Brewer v. Central Construction Co.
43 N.W.2d 131 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1950)
Daggett v. Nebraska-Eastern Express, Inc.
107 N.W.2d 102 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1961)
Wagner v. Otis Radio & Electric Company
119 N.W.2d 751 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1963)
Danico v. Davenport Chamber of Commerce
5 N.W.2d 619 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1942)
Hamilton v. J. Le Roy Farmer Canning Co.
261 N.W. 506 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1935)
Bates v. Nelson
38 N.W.2d 631 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1949)
Kutil v. Floyd Valley Manufacturing Co.
218 N.W. 613 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1928)
Pattee v. Fullerton Lumber Co.
263 N.W. 839 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1935)
Stiles v. Des Moines Council Boy Scouts of America
229 N.W. 841 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1930)
Dewey v. National Tank Maintenance Corp.
8 N.W.2d 593 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1943)
Maryland Casualty Co. v. Dutch Mill Service Co.
262 N.W. 776 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1935)
Schroyer v. Jasper County
279 N.W. 118 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1938)

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Bluebook (online)
164 N.W.2d 75, 1969 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 732, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lovewell-v-lovewell-iowa-1969.