Naranja Rock Co. v. Dawal Farms

• Citation: 74 So.2d 282
• Parties: NARANJA ROCK CO., Inc. et al. v. DAWAL FARMS, Inc. et al.
• Decision Date: 06 July 1954
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

Page 282

74 So.2d 282

NARANJA ROCK CO., Inc. et al. v. DAWAL FARMS, Inc. et al.

Supreme Court of Florida, Special Division B.

July 6, 1954.

Rehearing Denied Sept. 13, 1954.

Wicker, Brown & Smith James A. Smith, Miami, for petitioners.

Blackwell, Walker & Gray, Allen Clements, Miami, Rodney Durrance, Tallahassee, for respondents.

DREW, Justice.

On the evening of July 12, 1952 claimant's auto crashed into a tree and for the injuries sustained he sought benefits under the Workmen's Compensation Act, F.S.A. § 440.01 et seq., against the Naranja Rock Company, herein called Naranja, and Dawal Farms, Inc., herein called Dawal Farms.

Both corporations are organized under the Florida law and operate primarily in Dade County. Dawal Farms maintained a 2,000 acre tract of land and was engaged in farming and agriculture. Naranja maintained a 525 acre tract and was engaged in the manufacture of building blocks, selling of paint, building materials, and rock aggregate.

These two corporations were closely related in business. They maintained jointly a 'mobile pool' of heavy equipment the title to which was in Naranja but which was used by both companies. This equipment pool was under the exclusive charge of one Randy Caves, who was in the employ of both companies as heavy equipment foreman for each and who for his work received weekly $20 from Dawal Farms and $85 from Naranja. Caves had control of this equipment as he saw fit to assign operations for doing the work of either company at any time. He also had full authority over the operators thereof including the power to hire and discharge such employees on behalf of either company.

In June, 1952, claimant Atwell applied for a job as a bulldozer operator at Naranja's main office, filling out an application on a Naranja form and talking with Caves. Caves employed Atwell, who was put to work as a bulldozer operator. The claimant ordinarily worked until midnight for wages at the rate of $1.75 per hour. Claimant received payment from Caves by cash in an envelope labeled Dawal Farms. Dawal Farms carried claimant on its payroll but billed Naranja for any services performed for it by claimant.

For the first ten days of his employment claimant, under Caves' direction, worked on projects of Naranja and Dawal Farms. On the afternoon of July 12, 1952, between 5:30 and 6:00 p. m. claimant, with another employee by the name of Hester, reported to work at a Dawal Farms project where both had worked the previous day. Not finding their equipment at this location, both employees drove to the Naranja premises where machines were available for work on the land of that company. Caves appeared and outlined their work for that day which work was a Naranja project on its premises, and instructed the two employees to cease work at midnight. Caves left the job and no persons other than the two employees remained in the vicinity of the work.

On this job claimant and Hester each operated a bulldozer breaking rock on the land. While so engaged, rainfall caused these two men to cease operations on three occasions. On the third occasion, about 9:00 p. m., they sat in Hester's car for a few minutes and then both decided to drive to a barbecue stand for coffee and shelter. Both workers intended to return to the job if the rain ceased within a reasonable time. No person was available from whom permission for such activity could have been obtained; but the claimant testified that, in the past while located on another job, he had been allowed by Caves to go some hundred yards for a cup of coffee.

Each worker decided to drive his own car. Hester drove the claimant to his car. Claimant entered his car and, in the words of the Deputy Commissioner, 'as he was leaving the Naranja Rock Company to the so-called dedicated road he ran into a tree which was on the right hand side,' resulting in his injuries which are the basis of this action. This accident took place during a blinding rain on an unimproved road which ran parallel to and adjoining the 525 acre premises of Naranja, and which claimant had not traversed prior to the day of the accident. This road, known as Walden Drive, was used primarily for access to the Naranja premises and came to a dead end shortly beyond the premises. The title to the road had been in Naranja, but a few months before the accident the roadway was dedicated by the company to the county for public use. This road was a normal route for entry to Naranja grounds. The tree was in the right of way on the south side of the road at a point where Walden Drive intersected the driveway that entered the Naranja premises. This road was an usual means of ingress and egress but another exit was available at the opposite end of the premises.

Each company contended that the claimant was in the employ of the other at the time of the injury and contended further that the accident did not arise out of and in the course of claimant's employment.

The Deputy Commissioner ruled that the claimant was injured by an accident, which arose out of and in the course of his employment, and that, at the time of the injury, the claimant was in the employ and doing the work of both companies, and entered an order requiring each employer to pay one-half of the amount of compensation award to the claimant. On review, the Full Commission entered an order dismissing the claim against Dawal Farms and requiring Naranja to pay the full amount of the compensation award.

Naranja seeks certiorari in this Court contending that upon the record the claimant's injury did not arise out of and in the course of the employment and, further, that it was not an employer of claimant but that, if it were, its responsibility should be shared equally by Dawal Farms.

The Full Commission, in reviewing the order of the Deputy Commissioner, was required to adhere to his findings of fact unless there was no competent, substantial evidence to sustain them. It was the duty of the Full Commission to determine whether the findings of the Deputy were supported by the record and, if so, to determine whether his order was correct under the law. It is the duty of this Court to determine whether the Full Commission observed the substantial evidence rule in entering its order and to determine whether that order is forbidden by law. See Wilson v. McCoy Mfg. Co., Fla.1954, 69 So.2d 659; U. S. Casualty Co. v. Maryland Casualty Co., Fla.1951, 55 So.2d 741.

As to the proposition of whether the accident arose out of and in the course of the employment of claimant, the Deputy Commissioner found that claimant left his job at a time when he could not work because of the rain; that his departure was to relieve extreme discomfiture and was not simply for 'his own convenience and satisfaction' because such relief would enable him to work more efficiently for his employer; that had someone in authority been available, claimant would have received permission to leave; and that claimant intended to return when the weather permitted. The Deputy Commissioner concluded that under these circumstances it would be unreasonable to hold that 'the leaving by Atwell from the premises under the conditions which then existed took him out of the sphere of his employment' and further that the injury occurred at a place which was 'within a reasonable sphere geographically to where he actually was performing his work.'

This ruling was affirmed by the Full Commission on the ground that the offpremise point at which the accident occurred was on a normal route of entry to the Naranja plant and the hazards of that route became the hazards of the employment. We cannot say that this ruling is not supported by the evidence or is contrary to law.

Where there is a special hazard on a normal route used by an employee as a means of entry to and exit from his place of work, the hazards of that route under appropriate circumstances become the hazards of the employment. Cudahy Packing Co. v. Parramore, 263 U.S. 418, 44 S.Ct. 153, 68 L.Ed. 366, 30 A.L.R. 532; Bountiful Brick Company v. Giles, 276 U.S. 154, 48 S.Ct. 221, 72 L.Ed. 507, 66 A.L.R. 1402; Attaway v. Fidelity & Casualty Co. of New York, La.App.1949, 39 So.2d 632.

In the Parramore case, a company workman was struck and killed by a train while riding to work in the car of another along a public road which led from a main highway across railroad tracks and into the plant and which was the only practicable way of ingress and egress for employees. The United States Supreme Court held that the claim was compensable under the Utah Workmen's Compensation Act providing for recovery for injuries arising out of or in the course of employment, against the contention that the Statute, as applied, deprived the employer of his property in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.

In the Giles case, a compensation award, arising under the same Utah Statute involved in the Parramore case, was upheld for an accident in which the claimant was killed by a train while on his way to work along a path on private property. The employer knew of the common practice to use this route to work which enabled employees to avoid a more circuitous and inconvenient method of approach.

In the Attaway case, a workman, while enroute to his employer's premises, was struck and killed by a train at a railroad crossing intersecting a street to the plant within 100 feet of the entrance to his employer's premises. The Court held that under the time, place and circumstances the accident reasonably...