Radley v. Commonwealth
| Decision Date | 20 June 1944 |
| Citation | 297 Ky. 830,181 S.W.2d 417 |
| Parties | RADLEY et al. v. COMMONWEALTH. |
| Court | Kentucky Court of Appeals |
Appeal from Circuit Court, Franklin County; W. B. Ardery, Judge.
Action by the Commonwealth against Carl Radley and others, doing business as Dot-Knight Cab Company, for unemployment compensation taxes. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendants appeal.
Affirmed.
Raymond Connell, of Paris, for appellants.
Elwood Rosenbaum, of Frankfort, for appellee.
In this action the Commonwealth obtained judgment for unemployment compensation taxes against the appellants, Carl Radley and John Enzweiler, partners, doing business as 'The Dot-Knight Cab Company'.
The defense was that the appellants were not subject employers under the Unemployment Compensation Law, KRS 341.010 et seq. but were engaged in the business of leasing taxicabs to independent operators.
The sole question presented is whether the drivers of the appellants' taxicabs were employees or independent contractors. If they were employees the appellants are subject to the tax but if they were independent contractors they are not so subject.
The appellants entered into written contracts or leases with the taxicab drivers. The substance of these contracts was that the appellants rented the taxicabs to the drivers for twelve hours each day, excepting any days they were unable to furnish a cab on account of necessary repairs or other unavoidable causes. The appellants furnished all gas and oil and provided public liability insurance. The drivers paid 70% of the gross income, exclusive of tips, to the appellants each day and furnished their own drivers' licenses. The drivers agreed to operate the cabs in a safe and lawful manner, be courteous to passengers and use their best efforts to increase the business and also agreed to abstain from the use of intoxicating liquors while in possession of the taxicab and for a period of four hours prior to taking possession. The contract was terminable by the appellants at any time without notice or cause and contained a provision that the drivers were independent contractors, free from the supervision or control of the company.
Under very similar contracts, where it was shown that the cab companies advertised for business, maintained central offices with telephone service from which calls were relayed to the taxi stands and operated under a fixed schedule of fares, it has generally been held that the relation of employer and employee existed so as to impose liability on the cab company for injury to third persons by the negligence of the cab drivers. Meridian Taxicab Co. v. Ward, 184 Miss 449, 186 So. 636, 120 A.L.R. 1346; Richmond v Clinton, 144 Kan. 328, 58 P.2d 1116; Fitzgerald v Cardwell, 207 Mo.App. 514, 226 S.W. 371; Lassen v. Stanford Transit Co., 102 Conn. 76, 128 A. 117. Similarly, it has generally been held in such circumstances that the drivers are employees of the cab companies and that the companies were subject to unemployment compensation taxes. Kaus v....
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United States v. Fleming
...Taxi Service, 9 Wash.2d 134, 114 P.2d 164; Kaus v. Unemployment Compensation Commission, 230 Iowa 860, 299 N.W. 415; Radley v. Commonwealth, 297 Ky. 830, 181 S.W.2d 417. Other decisions have held that cab drivers are not employees. New Deal Cab Co. v. Fahs, 5 Cir., 1949, 174 F.2d 318, certi......
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Read v. Warkentin
...134, 114 P.2d 164; Myers v. Cummins, 9 Ill.2d 582, 138 N.E.2d 491; Redwine v. Wilkes, 83 Ga.App. 645, 64 S.E.2d 101; Radley v. Commonwealth, 297 Ky. 830, 181 S.W.2d 417. In conclusion it should be stated we have not ignored appellee's contentions that in Martin v. Wichita Cab Co., 161 Kan. ......
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Parks Cab Co. v. Annunzio
...violation here. To the extent that other courts, Kaus v. Unemployment Compensation Comm., 230 Iowa, 860, 299 N.W. 415; Radley v. Commonwealth, 297 Ky. 830, 181 S.W.2d 417; Redwine v. Wilkes, 83 Ga.App. 645, 64 S.E.2d 101; have attached greater significance to the provisions of franchise ord......
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Fern Properties v. Commonwealth, No. 2008-CA-000584-MR (Ky. App. 5/22/2009)
...See Litteral v. Commonwealth ex rel. Unemployment Comp. Comm `n, 312 Ky. 505, 228 S.W.2d 37, 38 (1950); Radley v. Commonwealth, 297 Ky. 830, 181 S.W.2d 417, 418 (1944). In such cases, legal fictions must be disregarded and the situation viewed "realistically" in light of the business being ......