Branham v. International Supply Co.

• Decision Date: 14 November 1933
• Docket Number: 21595.
• Citation: 27 P.2d 354,166 Okla. 273,1933 OK 600
• Parties: BRANHAM v. INTERNATIONAL SUPPLY CO.
• Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court

27 P.2d 354

166 Okla. 273, 1933 OK 600

BRANHAM v. INTERNATIONAL SUPPLY CO.

No. 21595.

Supreme Court of Oklahoma

November 14, 1933

Withdrawn Corrected and Refiled Nov. 18, 1933.

Rehearing Denied Dec. 5, 1933.

Syllabus by the Court.

1. Where the evidence is undisputed, the question of whether the relation of the parties is that of contractor and contractee or employer and employee is one of law for determination by the court.

2. Record examined, and held that the determination herein made was supported by the evidence.

Appeal from District Court, Tulsa County; Edwin R. McNeill, Judge.

Action by Margie Branham, for benefit of herself and next of kin against the International Supply Company, the Oklahoma Iron Works, Silas W. Campbell, and Fred W. Campbell. The action was dismissed as to Fred W. Campbell. Judgment for plaintiff against defendant Silas W. Campbell. From a judgment sustaining demurrer as to the corporate defendants, plaintiff appeals.

Affirmed.

Roy F Ford and S. J. Montgomery, both of Tulsa, for plaintiff in error.

Sam A. Neely, McMahon & Keating, D. F. Rainey, Philip J. Kramer, and Breckinridge & Bostick, all of Tulsa, for defendants in error.

RILEY Chief Justice.

Margie Branham, for benefit of next of kin, sued the corporate defendants and Silas W. Campbell and Fred W. Campbell, individual defendants, for the wrongful death of her husband, G. B. Branham. The action was dismissed as to Fred W. Campbell. Demurrers to the evidence, interposed by the corporate defendants, were sustained, and judgment was rendered for plaintiff against the remaining individual defendant, Silas W. Campbell, in the sum of $8,000.

This appeal is based upon contended error of the trial court in sustaining the demurrer of the corporate defendants.

Silas W. Campbell, the individual defendant, was proprietor and operator of a general motortruck business; a part of that business was done under a special agreement with the corporate defendants. The corporate defendants were engaged in wholesale and retail sale of oil field equipment. They jointly owned and occupied premises in the city of Tulsa. Campbell employed truckmen and supervised the operation of his trucks. Campbell was under contract with the corporate defendants to haul freight from the warehouses of the Oklahoma Iron Works to designated points in Oklahoma and Kansas for a consideration based upon the rate charged by common carriers. Campbell furnished his own trucks and superintended their movements and hired the drivers, one of whom was Virgil Robinson.

On the date of the injury, Campbell placed two of his trucks near the loading rack of the supply house of the corporate defendants. The trucks were about four feet apart and headed in opposite directions. The decedent, Branham, employed by Campbell, was standing between the trucks; Campbell gave orders to Robinson to move the truck driven by him to another location for materials. The engine of the truck was cranked while in reverse gear. Branham was fatally injured by being crushed between the trucks.

The corporate defendants owned and operated a hoist by which the materials shipped were moved to the trucks for loading. The arrangements of the loads and the amount thereof were under the...