Peterson Ex Rel. Peterson v. Fowler

493 P.2d 997, 27 Utah 2d 159, 1972 Utah LEXIS 933
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 4, 1972
Docket12455
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 493 P.2d 997 (Peterson Ex Rel. Peterson v. Fowler) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Peterson Ex Rel. Peterson v. Fowler, 493 P.2d 997, 27 Utah 2d 159, 1972 Utah LEXIS 933 (Utah 1972).

Opinions

ELLETT, Justice:

The plaintiffs are the dependents of Carl John Peterson, deceased. The Industrial Indemnity Company is the compensation insurance carrier for Peterson’s employer and would be entitled to reimbursement in case plaintiffs recover in this action. Robert A. Fowler was the architect on the job on which the deceased was working at the time he lost his life. Lauren Burt, Inc., was an independent subcontractor furnishing and installing ceiling tile in the dome of a sports arena. The deceased worked for the general contractor, and his dependents are receiving an award pursuant to the Workmen’s Compensation Act of Utah.

The general contractor and Lauren Burt, Inc., had contemplated that the scaffolding-erected by another subcontractor who built the dome over the sports arena would be used in placing the ceiling tile therein. However, it became necessary to remove that scaffolding, and the general contractor requested a change order from the architect to permit it to construct a floating scaffolding suspended from eyebolts to be placed in various steel hubs located in the dome of the arena. The architect denied the request for a change order and refused to allow any extra pay for any such scaffolding. He told the general contractor to proceed with his work as he saw fit.

Lauren Burt, Inc., rented the scaffolding and used it to install the ceiling tile. The beams of the dome and the steel hubs in [162]*162which they were inserted had become weathered and dirtied since they were installed, and the general contractor was obligated to clean them. The deceased was employed to do that work, and an arrangement was made by and between the general contractor and Lauren Burt, Inc., whereby the deceased would do his cleaning work from the floating scaffolding. By the arrangement, deceased was required to place ceiling tile for Lauren Burt, Inc., when he had finished cleaning the beams and hubs which could be reached from the floating scaffolding. The foreman for Lauren Burt, Inc., was to keep track of the work done by the deceased, and the recorded time showed that the deceased worked approximately three-fourths of his time placing ceiling tile and one-fourth of his time cleaning beams and hubs. The agreement further provided that when the job was finished, Lauren Burt, .Inc., would reimburse the general contractor for the fair value of the services rendered to it by the deceased.

The scaffolding fell, and all men working on it were killed, so no one knows exactly what work was being performed by the deceased at the time. However, since the cleaning had been completed and most of the tile placed, a jury might infer that the deceased was actually placing tile at the time of the accident. That inference cannot be drawn by the trial court on a motion for summary judgment.

The plaintiff sued a number of defendants, including the respondents herein. Pursuant to motions for summary judgment, the trial court dismissed the action as to the respondents and let the action pend as to other defendants.

Let us see if either or both of the respondents are entitled to dismissal as a matter of law based upon the undisputed issues of fact.

As to the architect, he had nothing whatsoever to do with the scaffolding. He neither designed it, constructed it, nor designated any material for it, nor did he have anything to do with renting or maintaining it. He owed no duty to the subcontractors or their employees in connection with that scaffolding. His responsibility was to his client, the owner of the building, and his duty in that regard was to see that the sports arena was properly erected so that it would be safe for the uses to which it would be put when finished. It is the duty of the Industrial Commission and not of the architect to see that contractors furnish their employees with safe places to work.1

The summary judgment was properly granted as to the architect.

As to Lauren Burt, Inc., hereinafter referred to as the respondent, the evidence [163]*163might show negligence, since the scaffolding was modified by its employees in that they added extra weight in the nature of a hleacher-type superstructure on it. However, regardless of any such negligence, these plaintiffs cannot maintain an action against the respondent if the deceased was engaged in the same employment as was Lauren Burt, Inc., at the time of the accident.2

The term “same employment” has not been defined by our courts in connection with actions by employees against third parties, that is, against one other than their employer. However, the idea of “same employment” was well known in connection with the fellow-servant rule of law prior to the enactment of the Workmen’s Compensation Act. The term “same employment” as set out in our Workmen’s Compensation Act should be given the meaning which had been attached to it under the cases decided up to that time.

Prior to the enactment of the Workmen’s Compensation Act, an employee could not sue his employer for injuries resulting from the negligent acts of a fellow servant. In determining what constituted fellow servants, the courts were in practical uniformity in holding that unless they were engaged in the same employment at the same time, they were not fellow servants so as to prevent an action against their common employer. If they were employed in separate departments of the same enterprise, they were not considered fellow servants unless their work was so related that they were likely to be in such proximity to one another that some special risk could be anticipated towards one if the other were negligent.3

In the case of Pool v. Southern Pacific Company,4 plaintiff’s deceased was repairing a railroad car on defendant’s repair tracks. He was killed when a locomotive with a caboose attached to it was backed into the car under which he was working. The administrator of his estate sued the defendant railroad company, which claimed that the death resulted from the negligence of a fellow servant. This court affirmed the judgment for plaintiff and in doing so quoted the following language from the case of Northern Pac. R. R. Co. v. Hambly:5

If the departments of the two servants are so far separated from each other that the possibility of coming in contact and hence of incurring danger from the negligent performance of the duties of such other department, could not be said to be within the contemplation of the [164]*164person injured, the doctrine of fellow service should not apply .

While the Pool case, supra, states what prevented the deceased therein and the engineer from being fellow servants, i. e., not in common employment, it is clear from the reading the decision' what is meant by "common employment.”

To be fellow servants, they must be engaged in the same line of work and labor together in such personal relations that they can exercise an influence upon each other promotive of proper caution in respect of their mutual safety. They should be at the time of the injury directly operating with each other in the particular 'business at hand, or they must be operating so that mutual duties bring them into such co-association that they may exercise an influence upon each other to use proper caution and be so situated in their labor to some extent as to be able to supervise and Watch the conduct of each other as to skill, diligence, and carefulness.6

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Bluebook (online)
493 P.2d 997, 27 Utah 2d 159, 1972 Utah LEXIS 933, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/peterson-ex-rel-peterson-v-fowler-utah-1972.