Noy Haynes v. James H. Carr, Inc., and Pacific Lumber Inspection Bureau

427 F.2d 700, 1970 U.S. App. LEXIS 9051
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
DecidedMay 26, 1970
Docket13701_1
StatusPublished
Cited by64 cases

This text of 427 F.2d 700 (Noy Haynes v. James H. Carr, Inc., and Pacific Lumber Inspection Bureau) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Noy Haynes v. James H. Carr, Inc., and Pacific Lumber Inspection Bureau, 427 F.2d 700, 1970 U.S. App. LEXIS 9051 (4th Cir. 1970).

Opinion

BUTZNER, Circuit Judge:

This appeal raises two issues: first, whether Noy Haynes’ tort action against James H. Carr Company is barred by Virginia’s Workmen’s Compensation Act; and second, whether the district court acquired personal jurisdiction over Pacific Lumber Inspection Bureau under Virginia’s long arm statute. The district judge, applying Virginia law because jurisdiction is based on diversity of citizenship, held for Carr and the Inspection Bureau. We affirm his dismissal of the action.

I.

Haynes, a carpenter employed by Earl M. Childrey, Inc., was injured by the collapse of a roof truss on a church Childrey was constructing. Haynes received compensation for his injuries from his employer. He then brought this action against Carr, who had fabricated the truss, alleging negligence and breach of warranty. Whether Haynes has a cause of action against Carr turns on the status of Carr. If the Carr Company was solely a supplyman and a deliveryman, Haynes may sue it because it is an “other party” within the meaning of the Compensation Act [Va.Code Ann. § 65.1-41 (1968 Repl. Vol.)]. Burroughs v. Walmont, Inc., 210 Va. 98, 168 S.E.2d 107 (1969). Cf. Bristow v. Safway Steel Products, 327 F.2d 608 (4th Cir. 1964). On the other hand, Haynes’ right to compensation is his only remedy, and his action against Carr is barred by other provisions of the Act [Va. Code Ann. §§ 65.1-40 and 65.1-103 (1968 Repl. Vol.)] if Carr was performing work that was part of the trade, business, or occupation of Haynes’ employer. Doane v. E. I. Dupont deNemours & Co., 209 F.2d 921 (4th Cir. 1954); Bosher v. Jamerson, 207 Va. 539, 151 S.E.2d 375 (1966).

Consulting engineers, working in conjunction with the building’s architect, prepared the designs and specifications for the trusses. The plans allowed the trusses to be fabricated either in a shop or at the job site. Childrey, the successful bidder for the job, subcontracted with Carr for the trusses. Carr elected to cut the lumber and drill holes for connecting devices at its shop. It then shipped the unassembled trusses to the job site. Its employees, under the supervision of its field superintendent, came to the job site, assembled the *702 trusses and stacked them as directed by Childrey’s superintendent. Childrey’s employees later placed them in the building by the use of a crane operated by another subcontractor.

The evidence disclosed that about one-third of the general contractors in the area fabricated trusses themselves, while others subcontracted the work to specialists, such as Carr. Although Childrey had not built any trusses as large as those in question, it either fabricated trusses itself or subcontracted the work, depending on whether it had sufficient carpenters available to do the job and on the relative cost of subcontracting. The district court found that the work performed by Carr was simple carpentry work, which could have been done by Childrey’s employees using tools that were readily available.

Of course, if Carr had placed the trusses in the building, there would be no doubt that it was engaged in the general contractor’s work. Bosher v. Jamerson, 207 Va. 539, 151 S.E.2d 375 (1966). But the fact that Carr did not place them in the building does not prove the converse to be true — that is, that it was not engaged in the general contractor’s work. For even if Childrey had built the trusses, they would have been assembled and stacked on the job site just as Carr assembled and stacked them. These were integral steps in the construction of the building.

As the Supreme Court of Appeals, in Burroughs v. Walmont, Inc., 210 Va. 98, 99, 168 S.E.2d 107, 108 (1969), stated, “The gathering of material is of course essential to the construction of a building. So in a sense each supplier of material is engaged in the general contractor’s trade, business or occupation. But a line must be drawn to determine who is an ‘other party’ for the purposes of the Workmen’s Compensation Act.” To draw this line, the district judge relied on two facts: (1) Carr, the subcontractor, was doing work embraced by the general contract at the job site, and (2) Childrey, the general contractor, could have done the work if it had elected not to engage a subcontractor. These facts form an adequate basis for the district judge’s ultimate finding that Carr was performing the trade, business, or occupation of Childrey, the general contractor. Accordingly, he correctly concluded that Haynes’ remedy was limited to the compensation provided by the Act and that he could not recover damages from Carr. Turnage v. Northern Virginia Steel Corp., 336 F.2d 837 (4th Cir. 1964); Rea’s Adm’x v. Ford, 198 Va. 712, 96 S.E.2d 92 (1957).

Haynes relies on Garrett v. Tubular Products, Inc., 176 F.Supp. 101 (E.D Va.1959) and Burroughs v. Walmont, Inc., 210 Va. 98, 168 S.E.2d 107 (1969), which held that the Compensation Act afforded no shelter to third party tort feasors who were simply supplying and delivering materials. But these cases are distinguishable, for the building materials — tubular steel and sheet rock— were beyond the competency of general contractors to fabricate, and they were not partly built or assembled at the job site.

Haynes’ argument that the Virginia Workmen’s Compensation Act is unconstitutional is foreclosed by Northern P. Ry. v. Meese, 239 U.S. 614, 620, 36 S.Ct. 223, 60 L.Ed. 467 (1916).

II.

The plans and specifications required that all lumber used in the trusses should be either No. 1 southern yellow pine or construction grade Douglas fir graded and marked to show that it would withstand a bending stress of 1500 pounds per square inch. Some of the timber bore the stamp of the Pacific Lumber Inspection Bureau. Haynes alleged that the timber used in the trusses did not meet the specifications, that the Inspection Bureau breached express and implied warranties of fitness, and that it negligently inspected and graded the timber.

The Inspection Bureau has neither a place of business nor agents in Virginia, *703 so Haynes caused process against it to be served on the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia under the state’s long arm statute and rule 4(e) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. He asserts that the Bureau knew that the ultimate consumer of timber bearing its mark would rely on the integrity of the mark and the quality of the grade which it indicates.

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Bluebook (online)
427 F.2d 700, 1970 U.S. App. LEXIS 9051, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/noy-haynes-v-james-h-carr-inc-and-pacific-lumber-inspection-bureau-ca4-1970.