Washko v. Stewart

67 P.2d 144, 20 Cal. App. 2d 347, 1937 Cal. App. LEXIS 804

Opinions

GRAIL, J.

This is an action for damages for personal injuries resulting from an automobile collision. The automobile had been sent by the owner to the defendant Howard Automobile Company for servicing. At the time of the collision the car had been serviced and was being driven back to the owner by the defendant Stewart. The trial court rendered judgment against the driver of the ear and against the owner of the car, but denied judgment against the Howard Company under a finding that the driver of the car was not at the time of the accident acting as an employee of the Howard Company but was an independent contractor. The appeal is from the judgment in favor of Howard Company. We are asked to reverse the judgment upon the ground that there is insufficient evidence to sustain said finding.

While the question of the sufficiency of the evidence to support a finding may be presented for review, the duty of the appellate court stops when it has determined that there is some substantial evidence to support it. Ordinarily on appeal the court does not and should not pass upon the weight or preponderance of evidence, and it will uphold the finding of the trial court if there is some substantial evidence to support it, even though it would have decided otherwise if it had been the trier of the facts. (2 Cal. Jur. 912, 913.) No rule of appellate procedure is more firmly settled than this. In such cases the court is concerned only with the single inquiry, Does the record contain any substantial evidence tending to support the finding assailed? and if there is such evidence, which is not inherently improbable, the answer must always be that the trial court has conclusively decided the question. The same rule applies though there be no conflict in the evidence if the inferences fairly deducible therefrom are such that different conclusions might rationally be drawn therefrom by equally sensible and impartial men. The court will not upset a finding because in its judgment the inference drawn by the trial court is improbable or more likely to be untrue than true. In such case the court’s duty begins and ends with the inquiry whether the trial court had before it evidence upon which an unprejudiced mind might reasonably have reached the same conclusion which was reached. The same rule applies also where the parties stipulate to the probative facts or where probative facts are set forth in the findings and different inferences may reasonably be drawn therefrom. (2 Cal. Jur. 934 to 936.)

The question whether or not the relation of employer and employee existed at the time of the accident, under the oral contract in this ease, was a question of mixed law and fact to be proved like any other question of fact. (Hillen v. Industrial Acc. Com., 199 Cal. 577 [250 Pac. 570].) In the case of La Franchi v. Industrial Acc. Com., 213 Cal. 675 [3 Pac. (2d) 305], our Supreme Court said: “In Hillen v. Industrial Acc. Com., 199 Cal. 577, 580 [250 Pac. 570] this court held that whether or not the relation of employer and employee exists is a question of mixed law and fact, a finding to that effect being binding on this court; and that only where there is entire absence of evidence to support the commission’s findings and award should it be set aside.” (See, also, Pacific Gas & Elee. Co. v. Industrial Acc. Com., 180 Cal. 497, 499 [181 Pac. 788].)

It must be kept in mind therefore, that the real question before us for decision is not, Did the relation of employer and employee exist between the driver and the Howard Company at the time of the accident? but, Was there any substantial evidence before the trial court to sustain the finding that such relationship did not exist? We set this forth so particularly for the reason that the real question is not stated in the plaintiffs’. briefs, and is not discussed therein. Plaintiffs content themselves with marshaling the facts and circumstances in evidence against said finding as though this court were a jury. Plaintiffs conclude their briefs with a recitation of nine circumstances which tend to prove that the relation of master and servant existed between the driver and the said defendant. We must keep the true question in mind.

The law determining when the relation of employer and employee exists is clear and precise. Section 2009 of the Civil Code states it as follows: “A servant is one who is employed to render personal service to his employer, otherwise than in the pursuit of an independent calling, and who in such service remains entirely under the control and direction of the latter, who is called his master.” “The word ‘servant’ is generally synonymous with the word ‘employee’.” (Western Indemnity Co. v. Pillsbury, 172 Cal. 807 [159 Pac. 721].) In that case the court said: “It is true that many authorities specify ‘control’ of the person performing work as the means of differentiating service from independent employment. The test of ‘control’, however, means ‘complete control’.” In Moody v. Industrial Acc. Com., 204 Cal. 668 [269 Pac. 542, 60 A. L. R. 299], the court said:.“The test of control means complete control, and we must carefully distinguish between authoritative control and mere suggestion as to detail.” See, also, Chicago etc. Ry. Co. v. Bond, 240 U. S. 449 [36 Sup. Ct. 403,

60 L. Ed. 745], which is cited and approved in Barton v. Studebaker Corp., 46 Cal. App. 707 [189 Pac. 1025] ; Bohanon v. James McClatchy Pub. Co., 16 Cal. App. (2d) 188 [60 Pac. (2d) 510]; Brosius v. Orpheum Theatre Co., 16 Cal App. (2d)

61 [60 Pac. (2d) 156]. In the Brosius case, which was decided by this court, the plaintiff contracted to furnish the defendant a comedy cycling act. The trial court held that the plaintiff was not an employee but an independent contractor, and this court sustained the judgment, for the reason that the “defendant did not have complete control over plaintiff. . . . Defendant did not have the right to control the number or size of the wheels used or the speed or direction in which they were to be propelled.”

It is only in the application of the law to the evidence, when a fact finder is attempting to determine facts, that there is any difficulty.

We wish also to emphasize that the law as to what constitutes the relationship of master and servant is not necessarily stated in that mass of eases, usually cited in the briefs when a question of this character is before a court, which take section 2009 of the Civil Code for granted or overlook it and laboriously discuss the facts and circumstances of each individual case as to whether the relationship exists,—and vaguely, if at all, discuss the real question, i. e., whether or not there is any substantial evidence in the record to sustain the finding of the trial court. Such cases almost uniformly, and rightly so, uphold the findings of the trial court on the question, but in almost all instances they would have and should have upheld the findings of the trial court if the findings had been the opposite. Such cases churn and grind together and settle down at the bottom of the ocean of jurisprudence, to form a conglomerate stratum which has no more texture or strength than a geological conglomerate often seen by the side of the road. In this connection see Koeberle v. Hotchkiss, 8 Cal. App. (2d) 634 [48 Pac. (2d) 104], It would be well in almost all instances if such questions were handled with the terse words of the less than two-page opinion of La Franchi v. Industrial Acc. Com., supra: “It is apparent from the foregoing brief survey of the evidence that the record contains some testimony tending to support the employee theory. ’ ’

In this connection we wish also to say that the law of this case is not necessarily stated in the case of Hammel v. Keehn, 18 Cal. App. (2d) 387 [63 Pac. (2d) 1165], which defendant Howard primarily and confidently relies upon for an affirmance, which is more nearly in line with the instant case than other cases which have been cited to us, and which as to the facts is more nearly on all fours with the instant ease.

In this connection also we wish to emphasize that no particular fact or circumstance has been held to be conclusive in determining the question whether a person is or is not an employee. A provision requiring plaintiff to be present at rehearsals does not establish such relationship. (Brosius v. Orpheum Theatre Co., supra.) A provision fixing wages and hours of employment by an operating schedule is not conclusive. (Moody v. Industrial Acc. Com., supra.) A provision for the use of salary checks in payment for the services rendered is not conclusive. (Lillibridge v. Industrial Acc. Com., 4 Cal. App. (2d) 237, 241 [41 Pac. (2d) 856] ; Los Flores S. Dist. v. Industrial Acc. Com., 13 Cal. App. (2d) 180 [56 Pac. (2d) 581].) Even a provision for the right of immediate discharge is not conclusive. (Bohanon v. James McClatchy Pub. Co., supra; Peters v. California B. & L. Assn., 116 Cal. App. 143 [2 Pac. (2d) 439] ; Pryor v. Industrial Acc. Com., 186 Cal. 169 [198 Pac. 1045], and cases cited.) But all of these facts and circumstances as well as others are considered evidence bearing upon the question of such relationship. For illustration, in the case of Peters v. California Bldg. & Loan Assn., 116 Cal. App. 143 [2 Pac. (2d) 439], the court said: “As evidence of the nature of the relationship existing between the association and Peters, there is the fact that Peters received no definite compensation, only commissions; that the automobile used by him in soliciting his customers was his own property and that he paid the expense of its maintenance and care and for the gasoline necessary to run it, together with all his other expenses.”

It is the custom of this court when confronted with a question of this nature to merely say, if it be so, that in our view there is substantial evidence to sustain the finding of the trial court. In the rare instances in which we do not sustain a finding of fact we set forth our reasons with particularity. In the instant ease we would ordinarily be content with the statement that in our view ■ there is substantial evidence to sustain the finding; but unfortunately we find ourselves in disagreement in the decision of the question. (We would be more than human if we did not sometimes disagree.) For that reason the majority will now set forth some of the facts and circumstances in evidence which sustain a finding that at the time of the accident the defendant Stewart was not acting as an employee of defendant Howard Company, but was an independent contractor. In extenuation we wish to say that our failure to agree also accounts for this long and laborious opinion.

The following facts and circumstances in evidence tend to sustain the finding of the trial court: Prior to the time of the accident the driver, Stewart, and one Phillips were managers of the Cycle Corporation which picked up and delivered automobiles for the defendant Howard Company pursuant to a contract wherein the corporation occupied the relation of independent contractor. This corporation went -into bankruptcy and thereupon Stewart and Phillips orally offered to handle the Howard Company’s pick-up and delivery service on the old basis of the corporation contract, with the exception that the Howard Company was to furnish Stewart and Phillips with compensation insurance. This offer was accepted and Stewart and Phillips commenced the pick-up and delivery of cars in the uniforms they had worn under the Cycle Corporation. Por each ear handled they received fifty .cents or one dollar, the rate depending upon specified zones. There was no minimum guarantee. In performing under this contract Stewart and Phillips used their own motorcycles. They paid all the cost of operating the motorcycles, including the cost of gasoline, oil and repairs. There was no fixed quitting time or lunch hour for these men, no fixed hour at which Stewart was to stop work at the end of the day, no extra pay for overtime.

The evidence was that in picking up and delivering cars Stewart and Phillips used their own individual discretion as to the route to be followed. They had a right to follow main traffic arteries or side streets, a dangerous route or a safe one. They were not in any sense under the direction and control of the company in this regard.

The evidence was that when Stewart was waiting for an opportunity to call for or deliver cars he was accustomed to do odd jobs around the shop, but this work was not compulsory, and when he did such work he was paid on an hourly basis—not by the month, or week or even by the day. He received payments semimonthly in the form of a so-called salary check, which check included the amounts coming to him for pick-up and delivery service together with pay for the hours spent on odd jobs while waiting for work under his contract. Under this contract if there were no cars he received no compensation. If the expenses incurred by him exceeded the amount received the loss fell on him. His profits might be large or small or he might even suffer a loss, depending upon the number of orders he received and the expense involved. We will not argue the strength of the above evidence. We are content to set it forth so that it may speak for itself.

There were other circumstances .in evidence from which the inference might possibly have been drawn that Stewart was an employee. But we are not engaged in parading conflicting circumstances in order to judge of their weight.

In addition to the finding of the ultimate fact, that at the time of the happening of the accident the defendant Stewart was not engaged in the performance of his duties as an employee of the defendant Howard Company, the court in other paragraphs made many probative findings, most of which have been set out in our recital of the evidence tending to sustain the finding of ultimate fact. Included were several other probative facts which might be considered inconsistent with the ultimate fact, and the final contention of the plaintiffs is that “a judgment founded upon a purported finding of an ultimate fact which is inconsistent with probative facts previously found, upon which the ultimate fact was based, is unsupported by the findings and must be reversed”. This contention does not accurately state the law which is applicable here. The applicable law is clearly and succinctly stated and the cases collected in 2 California Jurisprudence at page 872. It would seem almost that the editors had gathered the language together for the very purpose of this case. ‘ ‘ In reviewing the sufficiency of the findings to support the judgment, regard will be had to the ultimate facts found, and not to mere probative facts, which are not shown by the findings to be the only facts proved and from which alone the court finds the ultimate facts. In the absence of such showing, the mere circumstance that some of the probative facts are inconsistent with the ultimate facts will not prevent the ultimate facts from controlling. And whenever the facts found are such as might authorize different inferences therefrom, it will be presumed that the inference made by the trial court was one that will uphold rather than defeat the judgment. In such case the appellate court will not draw from those facts any inference of fact contrary to that which might have been drawn by the trial court for the purpose of rendering its judgment.” (2 Cal. Jur. 872, and vol. 1, Ten-year Supp. 528, 529.)

Judgment affirmed.

McComb, J., concurred.