Mrs. Odette Kiff, Widow of Dannie Powell, Jr., Etc. v. The Travelers Insurance Company

402 F.2d 129
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedOctober 16, 1968
Docket24085_1
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 402 F.2d 129 (Mrs. Odette Kiff, Widow of Dannie Powell, Jr., Etc. v. The Travelers Insurance Company) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mrs. Odette Kiff, Widow of Dannie Powell, Jr., Etc. v. The Travelers Insurance Company, 402 F.2d 129 (5th Cir. 1968).

Opinions

JONES, Circuit Judge:

The original plaintiff in the district court, Dannie Powell, Jr., brought suit for personal injuries which he asserted were caused by negligent acts of an employee of Harvey Crane Service, Inc. Dannie Powell, Jr., died and his widow, who is now Mrs. Odette Kiff, and his three minor children were substituted as plaintiffs. The sole defendant was the appellee, The Travelers Insurance Company, which was the negligence liability insurer of Harvey Crane Service, Inc.

Dannie Powell, Jr., was a truck driver for Jefferson Truck Lines, Inc. On June 22, 1961, he was dispatched to the California Company pipe yard for the purpose of loading and transporting steel pipe. To aid in this operation, a truck-crane was dispatched to the pipe yard. This crane was owned by Harvey Crane Service and operated by Andre Larousse, a crane company employee. Before any lifting could be performed, the boom of the crane had to be positioned at the pipe rack and the crane had to be balanced and anchored. While these maneuvers were being executed, Dannie Powell, Jr., was struck in the neck and injured by the crane’s counterweight.

The plaintiffs alleged in their amended complaint that Larousse was negligent in his operation of the crane and that this negligently-caused injury aggravated a pre-existing cancerous condition resulting in Powell’s death. The insurance company denied both negligence and causation, and alleged the contributory negligence of Powell. The defendant also asserted that its insured could not be held accountable for the acts of Larousse because the crane operator was the borrowed servant of Jefferson Truck Lines at the time of the accident.

At the close of the evidence, the issues raised by these pleadings were submitted to the jury in the form of special interrogatories. The jury found that Larousse was negligent, that his negligence caused Powell’s death, that Powell was not contributorily negligent, and that Larousse was the borrowed servant of Jefferson Truck Lines at the time of the accident. On this latter ground, Harvey Crane Service’s liability insurer was relieved of liability.

The plaintiffs have appealed from the judgment entered on the jury’s verdict. The sole contention here is that the borrowed servant issue was improperly submitted to and decided by the jury.

The record discloses several undisputed facts relevant to the employment status of Andre Larousse, the crane operator. [131]*131At the time of the accident, Jefferson Truck Lines and Harvey Crane Service were closely related corporations. The two companies were owned by the same person, were operated out of the same office by the same personnel, and generally were involved in the same operations. The only person on the crane company’s payroll, with the exception of an occasional temporary operator, was Andre Larousse. Because Harvey Crane Service had no clerical personnel of-its- own, Larousse had to be dispatched by an employee of the truck company. This dispatcher, Mr. Spezio, would order Larousse on and off different jobs and would keep the operator’s time. Andre Larousse’s brother was the general manager of Jefferson Truck Lines. He and Mr. Spezio had the authority to hire and fire personnel for both Jefferson Truck Lines and Harvey Crane Service.

On the morning that Powell was injured, Mr. Spezio had dispatched Andre Larousse to the California Company pipe yard. The crane was to be used to load pipe aboard the Jefferson trucks pursuant to a carriage contract between the truck company and the California Company. At the yard a Jefferson foreman, who was in charge of the loading and hauling operation, possessed extensive authority over the crane operator. This foreman testified that, if the need had arisen, he was authorized to terminate Larousse’s employment with Harvey Crane Service or to have the operator sent to another job. On these facts, the jury concluded that Andre Larousse, being under the control of the truck company’s foreman, was the borrowed’ servant of Jefferson Truck Lines at the time of the accident. This question, we believe, was erroneously submitted to and was erroneously decided by the jury.

As the appellee vigorously suggests, this Court is not free to set aside a jury verdict merely because another result is deemed to be more reasonable. Dowell, Inc. v. Jowers, 5th Cir. 1950, 182 F.2d 576. However, this limitation on our scope of review is not applicable when all that need be determined is the legal significance of undisputed facts.

“[W]here evidence is credible, reasonable, uncontradicted and unimpeached, no question for the jury but only one of law is presented.” American Hardware Mutual Ins. Co. v. Vick, 5th Cir. 1959, 268 F.2d 183, 184.

The record discloses that the determinative factual ingredients of Larousse’s employment status are not disputed. The only question presented, then, is whether these basic facts require the imposition of liability upon Harvey Crane Service and its insurer for the acts of its servant through application of the doctrine of respondeat superior. This question of law should have been decided by the court, not the jury.

In this diversity case, the law of Louisiana must govern. The issue presented here has been considered many times by the appellate courts of that state. See Truitt v. B & G Crane Service, La.App.1964, 165 So.2d 874, and cases cited therein. Consistently, the borrowed servant doctrine has been explained as follows:

“There is a presumption that the general employer is responsible in damages for the torts of his employee. If the general employer seeks to avoid liability on the ground that his employee is the ‘borrowed servant’ of another, then the burden of proof rests upon the general employer * * * to show that as to the particular work in question the servant has been loaned, that the relationship of master and servant which theretofore existed between the general employer and employee has been suspended, that a new relationship of master and servant has been created between the borrowing employer and that employee and that this new relationship was in existence at the time the accident occurred.” Kezerle v. Hardware Mutual Casualty Co., La.App.1967, 198 So.2d 119, 124.

To determine whether the general employer has sustained his burden of proof in this regard, it is necessary to as[132]*132certain whose work is being performed by the loaned servant. B & G Crane Service v. Thomas W. Hooley & Sons, 1955, 227 La. 677, 80 So.2d 369. This question may usually be answered by determining who has the power to control the servant in his temporary employment. Brown v. B & G Crane Service, La.App. 1966, 194 So.2d 746. Thus, the general employer must establish that he has fully relinquished the right to control his servant and that the borrowing employer has full authority over the borrowed servant in his new work. A new relation must, be created, and the old master-servant relation terminated. Benoit v. Hunt Tool Co., 1951, 219 La. 380, 53 So. 2d 137.

These principles, enunciated and followed by the courts of Louisiana, require us to hold as a matter of law that Andre Larousse was not the borrowed servant of Jefferson Truck Lines.

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402 F.2d 129, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mrs-odette-kiff-widow-of-dannie-powell-jr-etc-v-the-travelers-ca5-1968.