George Petro, Inc. v. Bailey

• Decision Date: 20 September 1968
• Citation: 438 S.W.2d 88
• Parties: GEORGE PETRO, INC., and Howard M. Smith, Appellants, v. George BAILEY et al., Appellees.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky

Page 88

438 S.W.2d 88

GEORGE PETRO, INC., and Howard M. Smith, Appellants, v. George BAILEY et al., Appellees.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

Sept. 20, 1968.

Rehearing Denied March 28, 1969.

James M. Graves, William P. Swain, Boehl, Stopher, Graves & Deindoerfer, Foster L. Haunz, Daugherty, Gray & Haunz, William G. Lehnig, Duncan & Lehnig, Louisville, for appellants.

Neville M. Tucker, D. Edward Turner, William P. Mulloy, J. J. McCarthy, Louisville, for appellees.

EDWARD P. HILL, Judge.

The three appellees filed this common law action to recover from their employer for injuries sustained in an automobile collision while on their way to work for appellant George Petro, Inc., hereinafter referred to as Petro. Howard Smith, another employee of Petro, was operating the vehicle in which appellees were riding. Petro and appellees had accepted the provisions of and were operating under the Workmen's Compensation Act at the time of the injuries.

The only question involved on this appeal concerns the right of appellees to maintain a common law action. Appellants contend that appellees' remedy is exclusively provided by KRS 342.015(1), a section of the Workmen's Compensation Act. Appellees argue that their injuries did not arise out of and in the course of their employment with Petro and that consequently they had no right to compensation or to proceed before the Workmen's Compensation Board. Therefore, their right to maintain a common law action is not affected by KRS 342.015(1).

Before discussing the legal question involved, we present a brief statement of the facts in the case. Petro operated a contract janitorial service in Louisville and other cities. Its headquarters were located in the Hoffman Building at Fourth and Market in the city of Louisville. The stores which Petro contracted to clean were located in widely scattered locations. Most of the cleaning, including a Super-X store toward which appellees were traveling, was done between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. Some of Petro's employees resided in the neighborhood of their work stations and got to work by any means selected. Others, including the three appellees, reported to headquarters at Fourth and Market streets and were transported in Petro's trucks to various stores in the city.

On the morning of December 20, 1965, appellees arrived at headquarters between 7 a.m. and 7:15 a.m. Bailey arrived first and was taken in a company truck to a store at 17th and Breckinridge streets, where the regular janitor had not showed up for work. Upon arrival there, they found the regular janitor had showed up; so, they returned to headquarters where they were joined by appellees Wise and Slaughter and proceeded to another location to clean one of the Super-X stores. On the way to this job, the truck in which appellees were riding, which was being operated by appellant Smith, collided with another vehicle, resulting in injuries to appellees.

Jury trials resulted in verdicts for appellees. Petro and Smith appeal.

The section of the Workmen's Compensation Act providing an exclusive remedy to persons having elected to operate thereunder has been consistently upheld by this court. Commonwealth, Dept. of Highways v. Meyers, Ky., 307 S.W.2d 179 (1957). And although the Act does not specifically say so, this court has held that the employee may not sue the agent of the employer except, of course, in case of 'deliberate' intent to injure. See Miller v. Scott, Ky., 339 S.W.2d 941 (1960).

And so we must first decide whether the injuries complained of arose 'out of and in the course of' appellees' employment. If so, they may not maintain this common law action.

In the recent case of Black v. Tichenor, Ky., 396 S.W.2d 794 (1965), this court held that the injuries of the employee, Tichenor, arose 'out of and in the course of' his employment where the factual situation showed Tichenor was on his way from Louisville to Middlesboro, where his work was to begin, on a day previous to the time his work was to start. This case appears to answer our question. Black also lays...