Long v. Stateline Systems, Inc.
| Decision Date | 26 August 1985 |
| Citation | 738 S.W.2d 622 |
| Parties | In re Shelby Jean LONG, wife and next of kin of Leonard L. Long, deceased, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. STATELINE SYSTEMS, INC., Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | Tennessee Supreme Court |
Marvin A. Bienvenu, Jr., Memphis, for plaintiff-appellant.
Ben H. Rowan, Steven D. Parman, Watkins, McGugin, McNeilly & Rowan, Nashville, for defendant-appellee.
This is a worker's compensation case in which the trial court granted defendant's motion for summary judgment and dismissed plaintiff's cause of action based on T.C.A. section 50-6-106.
Defendant, Stateline Systems, Inc., is a common carrier by motor vehicle operating pursuant to a certificate of public convenience and necessity issued by the Interstate Commerce Commission. On January 21, 1983, Stateline entered into an "Equipment Lease Agreement" with Kenneth Ellis. This agreement provided that Ellis was to furnish a vehicle together with a driver and any necessary helpers for Stateline's use in transporting cargo. The lease agreement further provided that Ellis was responsible for the costs of operation, including but not limited to maintenance and repair costs; wages or other remuneration of operators, drivers and helpers; public liability and property damage insurance on the equipment; payments for injury or damage to operators, drivers and helpers; and worker's compensation, unemployment insurance, social security and other similar taxes, and insurance benefits with respect to operators, drivers and helpers.
Pursuant to the terms of the lease agreement, Ellis supplied a vehicle driven by Leonard L. Long. It is undisputed that on June 13, 1983, Leonard Long suffered fatal injuries while performing his duties as the driver of the vehicle owned by Ellis and leased to Stateline.
The only issue is whether T.C.A. section 50-6-106(1) exempts a common carrier operating under a certificate of public convenience and necessity issued by the Interstate Commerce Commission from being deemed an "employer" under the Worker's Compensation Act under circumstances when the deceased driver was operating a truck pursuant to a lease agreement which provided that the owner-operator was to supply a vehicle and driver to the common carrier.
T.C.A. section 50-6-106(1) provides
Employments not covered.--The Workers' Compensation Law shall not apply to:
(1) Any common carrier doing an interstate business while engaged in interstate commerce, which common carrier and such interstate business are already regulated as to employer's liability or workers' compensation by act of the congress of the United States--it being the purpose of this law to regulate all such business which the congress has not regulated in the exercise of its jurisdiction to regulate interstate commerce; provided, however, that this chapter shall apply to those employees of such common carriers with respect to whom a rule of liability is not provided by act of the congress of the United States; provided, however, no common carrier by motor vehicle operation pursuant to a certificate of public convenience and necessity shall be deemed the "employer" of a leased-operator or owner-operator of a motor vehicle or vehicles under a contract to such a common carrier;
The statute clearly excludes from coverage those common carriers governed by rules of employer's liability or worker's compensation established by Congress. The statute, however, also provides that this exemption is not applicable to employees of a common carrier with respect to whom there is no rule of employer liability provided by the Congress. The last clause of T.C.A. section 50-6-106(1) was added by amendment in 1976. See 1976 Tenn.Pub.Acts 602. This amended portion states that a common carrier operating pursuant to a certificate of public convenience and necessity will not be deemed an employer of a leased-operator or owner-operator of vehicles under a contract to the common carrier. Therefore, although no federal rule of employer's...
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