Florida Pub. Co. v. Lourcey

Decision Date16 February 1940
Citation193 So. 847,141 Fla. 767
PartiesFLORIDA PUB. CO. v. LOURCEY.
CourtFlorida Supreme Court

Rehearing Denied March 6, 1940.

Error to Circuit Court, Duval County; DeWitt T. Gray, Judge.

Action by Bernard Lourcey, a minor, by next friend, against the Florida Publishing Company, a corporation, for injuries sustained while riding in an automobile operated by A. P Seig, who was delivering newspapers pursuant to a contract with the defendant. To review a judgment for the plaintiff defendant brings error.

Reversed.

COUNSEL F. P. Fleming, Fleming, Hamilton, Diver &amp Jones, and C. R. Scott, all of Jacksonville, for plaintiff in error.

Frank T. Cannon and Paul Vetter, both of Jacksonville, for defendant in error.

OPINION

TERRELL, Chief Justice.

Plaintiff in error leased to A. P. Seig Newspaper Route 738 under a written lease agreement whereby Seig was required to purchase of Florida Publishing Company and deliver to its customers certain daily newspapers. Seig used an automobile to perform his part of the contract and while assisting him in this Bernard Lourcey was thrown against a telephone pole and injured. In a common law action against Florida Publishing Company, he secured a judgment for personal injuries and that judgment is here for review on writ of error.

Several questions are argued but they all turn on that of whether or not under his contract Seig was at the time of the accident an independent contractor or occupied a master-servant relation to the defendant. The making of the contract, its terms, and the fact of the injury are not disputed. The point of cleavage is in the interpretation of the contract.

The contract in terms provides that Seig 'shall at all times occupy the position of an independent contractor and control all ways, means, method of conveyance, and distribution relating to the proper performance and completion of the agreement. The corporation looks only to the party of the third part and said carrier to obtain the desired results as herein set out'.

These provisions were ample to make Seig an independent contractor if they were not to all intents and purposes vitiated by other provisions of the contract or the practice of the parties under it. Counsel for defendant in error contends that both the terms of the contract and the method of its execution deprived Seig of his independent contractor relation and that since that relation is in dispute, it became one for the jury to determine.

The parts of the contract relied on to deprive it of...

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19 cases
  • Carlson v. FedEx Ground Package Sys., Inc.
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit
    • May 28, 2015
    ...actual practice, demonstrate that this is not a valid indicator of status.”Keith, 667 So.2d at 171. See also Florida Publ'g Co. v. Lourcey, 141 Fla. 767, 193 So. 847, 847 (1940) (“These provisions were ample to make Seig an independent contractor if they were not to all intents and purposes......
  • Harper ex rel. Daley v. Toler
    • United States
    • Florida District Court of Appeals
    • October 22, 2004
    ...of the agreement which to us were obviously intended to make [newspaper carrier] an independent contractor"); Fla. Publ'g Co. v. Lourcey, 141 Fla. 767, 193 So. 847, 848 (1940) (reversing judgment based on jury verdict for plaintiff and holding that newspaper carrier was independent contract......
  • Lake Parker Mall, Inc. v. Carson
    • United States
    • Florida District Court of Appeals
    • February 18, 1976
    ...contractor is not ordinarily liable for injuries sustained by that contractor's employees in their work. Florida Pub. Co. v. Lourcey, 1940, 141 Fla. 767, 193 So. 847. There is a duty to warn employees of an independent contractor of potential danger when the owner has actual or constructive......
  • Indian River Foods Inc. v. Braswell
    • United States
    • Florida District Court of Appeals
    • August 23, 1995
    ...rule is that an owner is ordinarily not liable for work injuries to employees of an independent contractor. Florida Publishing Co. v. Lourcey, 141 Fla. 767, 193 So. 847 (1940); Lake Parker Mall, Inc. v. Carson, 327 So.2d 121 (Fla. 2d DCA 1976), cert. denied, 344 So.2d 323 (Fla.1977). One ex......
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