Hall v. Ga. Milk Producers Confed'n

• Decision Date: 15 February 1940
• Docket Number: No. 27906.,27906.
• Citation: 7 S.E.2d 330
• Parties: HALL. v. GEORGIA MILK PRODUCERS CONFEDERATION.
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

7 S.E.2d 330

HALL.

v.GEORGIA MILK PRODUCERS CONFEDERATION.

No. 27906.

Court of Appeals of Georgia,

Division No. 2.

Feb. 15, 1940.

Syllabus by the Court.

"The Georgia Milk Producers Confederation, " which was organized and operated under and by virtue of the "Co-operative Marketing Act", Ga.L.1921, p. 139 et seq.; Code, Chapter 65-2, and is "a nonprofit cooperative association, " Code, § 65-202, is not an "employer" subject to the provisions of the Georgia Workmen's Compensation Laws, which provides that " 'Employer' shall in-elude any Individual, firm, association or corporation engaged in any business operated for gain or profit, " having regularly in their employ the required number of persons, and not exempt under Code, § 114-107, Code, § 114-101.

Error from Superior Court, Fulton County; Hugh M. Dorsey, Judge.

Proceeding under the Workmen's Compensation Law by Barbara Hall, employee, opposed by the Georgia Milk Producers Confederation, employer. To review a judgment reversing an award of the Industrial Board in favor of employee, the employee brings error.

Affirmed.

Thos. L. Slappey, of Atlanta, for plaintiff in error.

Morgan Belser and Philip Etheridge, both of Atlanta, for defendant in error.

STEPHENS, Presiding Justice.

Mrs. Barbara Hall, an employee of the Georgia Milk Producers Confederation, filed a claim for compensation with the Industrial Board for an injury received by her arising out of and in the course of her employment. At the hearing before the single director the Georgia Milk Producers Confederation objected to the jurisdiction of the Industrial Board and contended that under the terms of the Cooperative Marketing Act (Ga.L.1921, p. 139 et seq., Code 1933, § 65-201 et seq.) it was a nonprofit corporation and not subject to the provisions of the compensation laws of this State. The director found as a matter of law "that the Georgia Milk Producers Confederation is an association or corporation engaged in a business operated for gain or profit and * * * comes within the provision of the Georgia Workmen's Compensation Act, " and thereupon entered a final award in favor of the claimant. The employer appealed to Fulton Superior Court where the award was reversed and set aside, the superior court finding as follows: "Under the undisputed evidence in this case 'The Georgia Milk Producers Confederation' was organized and operated not to make profits for the confederation, or its stock members as such, but for its members as producers only, Code § 65-201, and therefore such Confederation is not under the Workmen's Compensation law engaged in a business operated for gain or profit as contemplated by said compensation law, Code, § 114-101. Hence, the judgment of the Industrial Commission complained of herein is in error and the same is vacated annulled & hereby reversed & set aside."

It appeared from the evidence that the Georgia Milk Producers Confederation is an association or corporation organized and existing under the laws of this State, found in the Cooperative Marketing Act of 1921 (Ga.L.1921, p. 139 et seq., Code Ch. 65-2); that the confederation is composed of around 120 stockholders who ship milk to the confederation, that the confederation does not buy the milk from any producer, but only receives the milk of its members, who are producers of milk on farms, that when the milk is received it is pasteurized and processed and then sent to the retail stores for sale to the ultimate consumer, that the milk is not purchased from the members, that it is their milk, that the milk is sold to none other than the ultimate consumer, that the proceeds derived from the sale of this milk, less the operating expenses, go back to the stockholder members who produced the milk, that the proceeds go back to them twice a month, but that there is really one final settlement, and that is once a month, that these proceeds go back to the producers on a pro-rata basis, based on the amount of milk that they ship in, that is, "the operating expenses that is used for the overhead in pasteurizing and processing the milk, "...