Massachusetts Cotton Mills v. Hawkins

139 S.E. 52, 164 Ga. 594, 1927 Ga. LEXIS 234
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedJuly 30, 1927
DocketNo. 5780
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 139 S.E. 52 (Massachusetts Cotton Mills v. Hawkins) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Massachusetts Cotton Mills v. Hawkins, 139 S.E. 52, 164 Ga. 594, 1927 Ga. LEXIS 234 (Ga. 1927).

Opinion

Hines, J.

The Court of Appeals requested of this court answers to the following questions:

1. Is the tortious act of an arresting officer, committed in the execution of a criminal warrant, procured by the agent in charge of the corporation by which the officer is employed and paid, for an offense mot committed against the company, or on its premises, but on the highway adjacent thereto, necessarily to be taken as in the exercise of a governmental function, so as to exclude responsibility for such a tort on the part of both the company and its agent in charge, or either, where it appears that the duties imposed upon such public officer by such private employment were to keep order on the company’s premises, protect its property, and make arrests of persons violating the State laws ? See Pounds v. Central of Ga. Railway Co., 142 Ga. 415 (83 S. E. 96); Exposition Cotton Mills v. Sanders, 143 Ga. 593 (85 S. E. 747).

2.Hill, J. If the foregoing question be answered in the affirmative, would the fact that the warrant procured by such corporate agent was known by him to be void operate to change the rule, so as to [596]*596render either such agent or such corporation, or both, liable for such tortious act of such arresting officer?

Every person is liable for torts committed by his servant, by his command, or in the prosecution and within the scope of his business, whether the same be by negligence or voluntary. Civil Code (1910), § 4413. It matters not that the employee is a public officer, and is employed because he is such officer. If the officer is employed by the master to perform certain acts for the master, and if in the prosecution and within the scope of the master’s business such officer commits a tort, the master is liable. So where a manufacturing company employs a public officer to keep order on its premises, protect its property, and make arrests of persons violating the State laws, if such servant, in the performance of his duties as such servant, commits a tortious act, the master is liable for the servant’s tort. Exposition Cotton Mills v. Sanders, supra; Kusnir v. Pressed Steel Car Co., 201 Fed. 146; Union Ry. Co. v. Carter, 129 Tenn. 459 (166 S. W. 592); St. Louis &c. Ry. Co. v. Hackett, 58 Ark. 381 (24 S. W. 881, 41 Am. St. R. 105) (Texas &c. R. Co. v. Parsons, 102 Tex. 157 (113 S. W. 914, 132 Am. St. R. 857); Dickson v. Waldron, 135 Ind. 507 (41 Am. St. R. 440, 24 L. R. A. 483, 34 N. E. 506, 35 N. E. 1); Terry v. Burford, 131 Tenn. 451 (175 S. W. 538, L. R. A. 1915F, 714); Mott v. Consumers’ Ice Co., 73 N. Y. 543; Deck v. B. & O. R. Co., 100 Md. 168 (59 Atl. 650, 108 Am. St. R. 399); McKain v. B. & O. R. Co., 65 W. Va. 233 (64 S. E. 18, 131 Am. St. R. 964, 23 L. R. A. (N. S.) 289); Rand v. Butte Electric Ry. Co., 40 Mont. 398 (107 P. 87); Brill v. Eddy, 115 Mo. 597 (22 S. W. 488) ; Hirst v. Fitchburg &c. Ry. Co., 196 Mass. 353 (82 N. E. 10).

It has been generally held to be a question of fact for determination by a jury, whether, when a special officer performed the acts for which the master is sought to be held liable, he was acting in his capacity as servant, or in his capacity as a public officer. Sharp v. Erie R. Co., 184 N. Y. 100 (76 N. E. 923, 6 Ann. Cas. 250); Deck v. B. & O. R. Co., Texas & N. O. R. Co. v. Parsons, supra. But if the wrong was done by the officer as such,'his employer is not liable, even if the officer exceeded his just authority; but if it was done during the course of his duty as employee, and within the scope of his employment, then the employer is liable, even if it be done in excess of authority; and it is generally a question for [597]*597the jury to determine, under all the evidence, the capacity in which the wrong-doer was acting at the particular time.

The first question propounded by the Court of Appeals is this: Whether, under the facts stated therein, a finding is demanded that the tortious act was committed by the tort-feasor in his capacity of an officer, so as to .relieve the company and its manager, or either, from responsibility therefor. In determining this question we must first determine the scope of the employment of this officer by the company. Under this question, he was employed to keep order on the company’s premises, protect its property, and make arrests of persons violating the State laws. Fairly construed, the employment of this officer to arrest persons for -violation of the State laws must be held to refer to persons violating such laws upon the premises of the employer, or so near thereto as to affect the master’s property or interests, or where infractions of such laws affect or involve its property or interests or both, or grow out of some transaction between the company and the person sought to be arrested. It would hardly be reasonable to hold that this company was employing an officer to make arrests for indiscriminate infractions of the criminal laws, anywhere and everywhere in the State, and when such infractions of the laws did not take place upon the premises of the employer, and in no way involved or affected its property, the' use and enjoyment of its premises, or its interests. The obvious purpose of the employment was to secure good order upon the premises of the employer, and to protect the company’s property and rights. So construing the contract of employment, the arrest sought to be made did not fall within the prosecution and within the scope of the master’s business. The arrest was not made to keep order on the company^ premises, to protect its property or its rights, and was not made on its premises, but was made on the highway adjacent thereto. The officer seeking to make the arrest was not acting under authority conferred upon him by virtue of his employment, but was acting by virtue of the authority conferred upon him by the warrant which he was seeking to execute; He could not execute this warrant as the employee, but could only do so as an officer. Coleman v. State, 121 Ga. 594 (3) (49 S. E. 716). He was proceeding under authority conferred by this warrant, and under the aegis of the law. He was undertaking to discharge the duty which rested [598]*598upon him as such officer. Pounds v. Central of Ga. Ry. Co., supra. The company would not be liable for a tortious act of the officer committed in an attempt to arrest under a warrant a person charged with the commission of a misdemeanor which was not committed upon its premises, which in no way involved or affected its property rights or interests, and which did not grow out of any transactions between the company and the person sought to be arrested. McKain v. B. & O. R. Co., supra. In these circumstances it must necessarily be taken that the officer acted in his official capacity and not in his capacity as an employee, and that neither the company which employed him, nor its manager, is liable for any tortious act committed by him in undertaking to make an arrest under the warrant.

Would the fact that the warrant procured by the corporate agent was void, and was known by him to be void, operate to change the principle, so as to render either such agent or such corporation, or both, liable for the tortious act of the arresting officer? Clearly the corporation would not be liable for the tortious act of the officer.

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Bluebook (online)
139 S.E. 52, 164 Ga. 594, 1927 Ga. LEXIS 234, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/massachusetts-cotton-mills-v-hawkins-ga-1927.