Hinson v. Virginia-Carolina Chemical Corp.

• Decision Date: 25 May 1949
• Docket Number: 597
• Citation: 53 S.E.2d 448,230 N.C. 476
• Parties: HINSON et al. v. VIRGINIA-CAROLINA CHEMICAL CORPORATION.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

53 S.E.2d 448

230 N.C. 476

HINSON et al. v. VIRGINIA-CAROLINA CHEMICAL CORPORATION.

No. 597

Supreme Court of North Carolina

May 25, 1949

Civil action to recover property damages resulting from alleged actionable negligence in which corporate plaintiff claims an interest by subrogation, it having paid insurance on the property damaged.

This action grew out of a collision in North Carolina on Highway #76, between plaintiff's oil tanker and tractor traveling west, and operated by one James N. Baker, and defendant's Chevrolet truck, traveling east, and operated by one S. C. Strickland. The collision occurred about 5 o'clock and 'just before sun-up' on the morning of July 21, 1945, at a point about a mile east of Hallsboro. Defendant denies that Strickland, at the time of the collision was its agent in the operation of the truck, and acting within the scope of his employment. And on the contrary, it avers that at the time of the collision Strickland was engaged in a private and personal enterprise.

Passing the evidence which tends to show that the collision in question was the proximate result of the negligence of Strickland, the operator of defendant's truck, the evidence as to the scope of his employment by defendant follows:

Strickland as witness for plaintiff, among other things, testified 'My duties were to get up early every morning and go down to Delco or Malmo to pick up men and take them back to the plant, and in the afternoon to deliver them back home. I had been keeping the truck at night at different places where I boarded. I stayed at three different places while I worked for the V. C. C. Company, at Woodburn and at Leland and at the plant, where I was last staying * * * Mr. Owen * * * is the foreman of the Virginia-Carolina Chemical Corporation. His duties were to look after the plant and equipment * * * I asked Mr. Owen about keeping it (the truck) at the place I stayed on account of getting up early in the morning, and he give me permission to keep it * * * At the time of the accident I was living at Navassa * * * The three places I lived during my employment with the company were within a maximum of four or five miles of the plant. The men I was hauling were as far up as Delco * * * I was living in one of the Company's houses at the plant at the time of the accident * * * Mr. Owen knew that I was living at Bill Lewis' and he told me to keep the truck there every night to keep from walking so far in the morning. He told me to keep it there so I could to backwards and forwards to work and pick up the labor every morning.'

And Strickland, as witness for plaintiff, also testified: 'On the morning of July 21, 1945, I was operating a truck out on the highway near Hallsboro, N. C. * * I had been to Hallsboro and had left the truck at the Cedar Inn Service Station * * * during the night with people I knew, and had went several places with some more boys and girls. The next morning about time to go to work, about 5 o'clock, I come along and picked up the truck and was headed back to pick up labor and I got in the accident * * * I would say it was two miles below Delco where I would pick up some of the hands and this point is about the same distance from the plant at Navassa and the filling station where I had parked the car the night before the wreck * * * On the morning of July 21 1945, I was headed to about two miles this side of Delco to pick up the first laborer and then go into Armour and Acme and get some more * * The afternoon before the accident after I had left the plant, I went to Hallsboro to see my girl friend and parked the truck at her house * * * After I got to Hallsboro I went with several of my friends to Chadbourn and we ate and drank and stayed up all night * * * Mr. Owen didn't know I had the truck at Hallsboro that night, and Mr. Robinson didn't either. I mentioned it to Wilkinson, the mechanic, that give me right smart orders. On Friday afternoon, July 20, 1945, between 4:30 and 5 o'clock he told me to drive the truck on up there; that it would be all right. He had promised to go up there with me, and we were supposed to drive his car up there and something happened * * * Mr. Shackelford was what I would call chief mechanic. He didn't tell me I could use the truck to go to Hallsboro * * * I made a statement about this shortly after this thing took place and signed one * * I think I said I didn't get authority from any one except Wilkinson to take the truck up there. The Company didn't send me down there. I went on my own. Some nights I took the truck back to the plant and some nights I didn't. I had not been given permission to drive the truck to Hallsboro and go where I pleased. In the statement I said I went to different employee's houses and left them * * * Julius F. Duvall * * * was the last passenger I let out. At his home I pulled off the highway and got stuck in the mud * * * and after I got out I decided to go to Hallsboro. I reckon that's what I said. I ain't saying it is and I ain't saying it's not * * *. ' And again, 'So far as I know this was a part of the statemet I signed: 'On July 20th when I let my last passenger out at Delco I knew I was not supposed to go any further, and taking the truck to Hallsboro was absolutely against the rules laid down by my company. This trip I took was unauthorized and my company did not send me to Hallsboro'. It was the truth they didn't send me to Hallsboro. I had never taken the truck before for my own use, no more...