Roy L. Jones Truck Line v. Johnson

225 S.W.2d 888, 1949 Tex. App. LEXIS 1867
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 8, 1949
DocketNo. 12133
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 225 S.W.2d 888 (Roy L. Jones Truck Line v. Johnson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Roy L. Jones Truck Line v. Johnson, 225 S.W.2d 888, 1949 Tex. App. LEXIS 1867 (Tex. Ct. App. 1949).

Opinion

CODY, Justice.

Mrs. Ida Dugat Johnson, for herself and as guardian of her minor son, David Lee Johnson, brought suit against Roy L. Jones Truck Line, and Roy L. Jones, individually, d/b/a Roy L. Jones Truck Line, for damages negligently caused to Morris C. Johnson, husband and father of plaintiffs, on March 1, 1947, from which injuries the said Johnson died the following July. Mrs. Ida Dugat Johnson will hereafter be called plaintiff and Roy L. Jones Truck Line and Roy L. Jones, individually, d/b/a Roy L. Jones Truck Line will hereafter be called defendant. The insurance company -carrying the compensation insurance for the deceased intervened to recover some $13,-000.00 which was paid out under the Workmen’s Compensation policy.

The deceased was employed as a driller by the PLD Well Service at the time of the accident and at said time was engaged in assembling — re-erecting, a 'derrick for his employer near Barber’s Hill in Chambers County on a lease known as Gulf Fee C-5. The rig had theretofore been used on a location across the road from the Gulf Fee C-5 and had been dismantled and had been hauled or moved in trucks belonging to defendant to the location on which it was being erected at the time of the accident. Plaintiff alleged with respect to the happening of the accident as follows:

“A rig was being erected on the location mentioned on the date stated. The substructure had been placed in position and a truck of the defendants was being used to raise parts of the rig into position. At the time of the occurrence made the basis of this suit, the starting leg of the rig was attached to the gin pole of the truck of the defendants and the truck and the employees of Roy L. Jones Truck Line were attempting to get the leg in position to fasten it to the substructure. Morris C. Johnson, deceased, as driller for PLD Well Service, was standing near a caterpillar tractor a short distance from the substructure. As the employees of the defendants were attempting to place the starting leg in position, the same got out of control as a result of the negligence of the defendants and its agents and representatives and was permitted to swing against the deceased, pinning him to the caterpillar tractor, thereby inflicting serious abdominal injuries on the said Morris C. Johnson. As a result of this occurrence, the husband and father of your plaintiffs sustained bodily injuries which produced his death thereby”, etc.

It will be noted that plaintiff alleged that the starting leg of the rig was attached to the gin pole of the ten ton truck belonging to defendant. This fact is not disputed, nor is it disputed that the driver of said truck and helper or swamper were in the general employment of defendant. Nor is it disputed, on this appeal, that the negligence of said truck crew or its swamper caused the starting leg of the rig to strike the deceased and inflict injuries which resulted in his death. The position of defendant is that he had rented the truck and its crew to the PLD Well Service and that said crew, at the time of the accident, was under the control of the PLD Well Service. The position of defendant with respect to his major defense is set forth in his answer in these words:

“3. Specially answering, Roy L. Jones says that he is in the business of renting trucks and drivers to the public and in such capacity he rented some equipment and men to PLD Well Service Company to do some work in 'Chambers County, and to be used at such times and places as desired by PLD Well Service Company; and that PLD Well Service Company desired to erect a jackknife rig in Chambers County, and to erect the rig the PLD Well Service Company used not only the equipment and men rented from him but also other men and other equipment procured from some other party or parties.

[890]*890“4. Further specially answering, Roy L. Jones says that at the time of the accident in question Morris C. Johnson was a driller for PLD Well Servicing Company, and he or some other representative was in charge of the work and had full authority to direct the work and all of its details and did direct all of the details of the work.

“5. Further specially answering, Roy L. Jones says that at the time of the accident the men on the job were erecting a jackknife derrick and in so doing they used one of Roy L. Jones’ trucks, which had a winch attached to it, and they were moving a starting leg which was attached to the winch, and in order to move the starting leg to its proper place it was necessary to hack the truck, and the driver of the truck being guided as the truck moved along slowly while the leg was dangling in the air.”

At the conclusion of plaintiffs’ evidence and again at the conclusion of all the evidence, the defendant moved for a directed verdict, which motions were refused, and the case was submitted to the jury on 24 special issues. The first eight of said special issues inquire with reference to the negligence of defendants’ truck crew or that of the swamper of said crew, and all of said special issues, except one, were answered so as to convict the truck crew, including the swamper, of negligence which was a proximate cause.

Special issue No. 8-A as answered by the jury was as follows:

“Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that Roy L. Jones Truck Line was an independent contractor in the use of its truck in moving the derrick, substructure and other drilling equipment on Gulf Fee C-5 lease on’March 1, 1947?

“Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.

“Answered: Yes.

“By the term ‘independent contractor’, as used in the foregoing issue, is meant a person who, in the pursuit of an independent business, undertakes to do a specific piece of work for others, using his own means and methods, without submitting himself to their control in respect to all it details and thereby represents the will of those for whom the work is being done only as to the result of his work, and not as to the means by which it is accomplished.”

Special issue No. 9 as answered by the jury was as follows:

“Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that Morris, the truck swamp-er, and Collins, the truck driver, were subject to the control of the PLD Company as to the details of the way and manner in which the starting leg was being moved on the occasion in question?

“Answered: No.”

Based upon the answers of the jury to the special issues, the court rendered judgment for plaintiffs, wife and mother, for a total of approximately $54,000.00, the first $13,000.00 to be paid over to the Workmen’s Compensation Insurance carrier who was subrogated thereto. Some $7000.00 of the judgment being for medical attention to the deceased; some $1800.00 being for damages of lost earnings prior to the deceased’s death. Some $12,000.00 being awarded on account of the son who was 15 years of age at the time of the accident, and some $32,000.00 being awarded to the wife on account of the death of the deceased.

The defendant predicates his appeal upon 12 points, the first four of the points complain in substance that the court should have held that the evidence established, as a matter of 'law, that the defendant was not liable for the acts of the employees of the truck crew at the1 time of the accident — that is, established that the defendant was not an independent contractor in the use of his truck on the occasion in question.

The fifth point complains that the answer of the jury to special issue No.

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Bluebook (online)
225 S.W.2d 888, 1949 Tex. App. LEXIS 1867, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/roy-l-jones-truck-line-v-johnson-texapp-1949.