Farmer v. Ryder Truck Lines, Inc.
| Decision Date | 07 May 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 35883,35883 |
| Parties | FARMER v. RYDER TRUCK LINES, INC. et al. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Edward E. Strain, III, Cornelia, for appellant.
Andrew J. Hamilton, George L. Pope, Jr., Atlanta, for appellees.
Harris Farmer was totally disabled in an accident while driving a truck owned by Dan Martin. Martin owned four trucks which were under an equipment lease to Hames Trucking Company. Mr. Farmer was one of three truck drivers employed by Dan Martin. Martin had no worker's compensation insurance in effect at the time of the accident.
Hames Trucking Company, headquartered in Clayton County, Georgia, is authorized to haul exempt commodities only. Under the terms of the equipment lease with Hames, Martin received 83% of the outbound shipping charge and Martin was entitled to all revenue from return loads that were trip leased to a common regulated carrier. Martin was responsible for finding return loads. Pursuant to the equipment lease, Martin was to furnish at his expense "competent, qualified, licensed and experienced" drivers who were to be the employees of Martin, but Hames reserved the right to request removal of any unqualified driver. Martin was to have exclusive control, direction, jurisdiction and supervision of the drivers, with Hames only having the authority to designate the destination of outgoing loads.
Upon delivering a load of exempt poultry to Chicago for Hames Trucking Company, Farmer went to Ryder Truck Lines, Inc., in Chicago and obtained a load of regulated commodities for a return haul to Georgia. Farmer signed a trip lease agreement as agent of the lessor (stipulated by the parties to be Martin).
Under the terms of the trip lease agreement, the lessor (Martin) leased the tractor and trailer to Ryder under the "direction and control of Ryder Truck Lines, Inc." The tractor and trailer were under the "exclusive possession, control, and use" of Ryder, who assumed "full responsibility in respect to the equipment it is operating to the public, the shippers, and all regulatory bodies having jurisdiction." The lessor was to pay the driver's salary and indemnify Ryder against any loss resulting from the injury or death of the driver. Ryder retained authority to transfer the shipment and handle it according to its best judgment if Ryder deemed that the equipment was inadequate for any reason.
Farmer was injured while driving the tractor leased to Ryder. After the accident, Farmer filed a workers' compensation claim against Ryder and Hames Trucking Company. The administrative law judge found as a matter of fact that Ryder Truck Lines and Hames Trucking Company were Farmer's employers at the time of the accident. He found that Ryder had the right to and was legally required to maintain control over the truck and driver under the trip lease agreement and under Interstate Commerce Commission regulations. He further found that Hames Trucking Company maintained control of the truck and in so doing necessarily maintained control of the driver with respect to the outgoing trip. He held that the picking up of return loads was part and parcel of the equipment lease entered into between Hames Trucking Company and Martin. In return hauls, Martin was lowering the cost to Hames of the outbound loads by not returning empty, and thus the return haul was of monetary benefit to Hames Trucking Company. The administrative law judge found that at the time of the accident the truck was being returned to Hames and held that under the provisions of our workers' compensation laws, the employer, Hames, could not send an employee to a distant location and then deny any responsibility for his return. He awarded Harris $95 per week for the period of his incapacity.
Upon de novo review, the workers' compensation board reversed the award. The board found that Farmer had been operating the truck under the general supervision of Dan Martin. It found no employee- employer relationship existed between Farmer and Ryder Truck Lines, Inc., or Hames Trucking Company. The board held that the proper test to be applied in determining the existence of an employee-employer relationship is "whether the alleged employer had the right to control the time, manner, and method of performance of the alleged employee's work duties, or whether the alleged employer assumed such control, regardless of whether he had the right to do so." The board found that Hames Trucking Company neither had the right to nor exercised any control over Farmer on his return trip to Georgia. The board further found that testimony of Ryder's representative clearly indicated that the language in the trip lease giving Ryder the right to control the tractor and trailer referred to results to be accomplished and was never understood to give Ryder the right to control Farmer as to the time, manner, and method of his driving to Georgia. 1 Consequently, the board reversed the administrative law judge (one director dissenting) and denied relief.
On appeal, the superior court affirmed. In a full court opinion, the Court of Appeals affirmed, with two judges dissenting. Farmer v. Employers Ins. of Wausau, 152 Ga.App. 608, 264 S.E.2d 26 (1979). The majority divided the right of control into two dimensions, "ministerial control" and "operational control." Ministerial control, reasoned the Court of Appeals, was control over the driver, and operational control was control over the equipment required by federal law and exercised by Ryder for the protection of the freight and the public. The Court of Appeals found that the driver and his expenses were paid by Martin and that Ryder could not hire or replace the driver.
One of our concerns in granting certiorari was the possible applicability of the "statutory employer" provision of our workers' compensation law, Code Ann. § 114-112, in light of Holt v. Travelers Ins. Co., 244 Ga. 857, 244 S.E.2d 139 (1979). That Code section is inapplicable here for the reason that no claim for compensation was first instituted against the immediate employer, Martin, as required by that section. We are now concerned with whether the concept of ministerial and operational control should be introduced into our workers' compensation law. 2
The name of the case has been changed from Farmer v. Employers Insurance of Wausau, et al., as it was in the Court of Appeals, to Farmer v. Ryder Truck Lines, Inc., to more accurately reflect the issue in the case. Employers Insurance of Wausau insured Hames Trucking Company and we affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals insofar as it held that Hames Trucking Company was not Farmer's employer at the time of the accident.
Regulations of the Interstate Commerce Commission require authorized carriers who lease equipment with drivers from owners to issue receipts identifying the equipment, and specifying the date and time on which the lease begins and when it ends. The lease must provide that the lessee have exclusive possession, control, and use of the equipment for the duration of the lease, and that the lessee assume complete responsibility for the operation of the equipment for the duration of the lease. 3
It may be argued that Farmer was an independent contractor as to Ryder, in that Ryder had only the right to require certain results in conformity with the contract and that Ryder did not have the right to control the time, manner and method of executing the work. Because there was no direct contract between Ryder and Farmer, their relationship to each other must be ascertained from the trip lease agreement between Ryder and Martin.
Under the trip lease in question the tractor and trailer were under the direction and control of Ryder. 4 The driver went with the equipment. Ryder controlled the delivery of the goods. Ryder told Farmer where and when to pick up the load. Farmer was allowed to choose which of the ICC approved routes he would travel but Ryder then adopted that route and told Farmer not to deviate from it. Ryder told Farmer where and when to deliver the load. These are pertinent factors to be considered in determining whether Ryder had control over Farmer as to the return trip.
In Ratliff v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 149 Ga.App. 211, 253 S.E.2d...
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