Standard Oil Company v. Edward Anderson

• Citation: 29 S.Ct. 252,212 U.S. 215,53 L.Ed. 480
• Decision Date: 01 February 1909
• Docket Number: No. 58,58
• Parties: STANDARD OIL COMPANY, Petitioner, v. EDWARD ANDERSON
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

212 U.S. 215

29 S.Ct. 252

53 L.Ed. 480

STANDARD OIL COMPANY, Petitioner,

v EDWARD ANDERSON.

No. 58.

Argued January 7, 1909.

Decided February 1, 1909.

Mr. Charles W. Fuller for petitioner.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 215-217 intentionally omitted] Mr. Bertrand L. Pettigrew for respondent.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 217-218 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice Moody delivered the opinion of the court:

The respondent, hereafter called the plaintiff, brought an action in the circuit court of the United States for the eastern district of New York to recover damages for personal injuries alleged to have been suffered by him through the negligence of a servant of the petitioner, hereafter called the defendant.

The plaintiff was employed as a longshoreman by one Torrence, a master stevedore, who, under contract with the defendant, was engaged in loading the ship Susquehanna with oil. The plaintiff was working in the hold, where, without fault on his part, he was struck and injured by a draft or load of cases containing oil, which was unexpectedly lowered. The ship was alongside a dock belonging to the defendant, and the cases of oil were conveyed from the dock to the hatch by hoisting them from the dock to a point over the hatch, whence they were lowered and guided into the hold. The work was done with great rapidity. The motive power was furnished by a steam winch and drum, and the hoisting and lowering were accomplished by means of a tackle, guy rope, and hoisting rope. The tackle and ropes were furnished and rigged by the stevedore, and the winch and drum were owned by the defendant and placed on its dock. some 50 feet distant from the hatch. All the work of loading was done by employees of the stevedore, except the operation of the winch, which was done by a winchman in the general employ of the defendant. The case was tried before a jury and the plaintiff had a verdict. The verdict establishes that the plaintiff was in the use of due care, and that his injuries were suffered by reason of the negligence of the winchman in improperly lowering the draft of cases into the hold.

The only question presented is whether the winchman was, at the time the injuries were received, the servant of the defendant or of the stevedore. If he was the servant of the defendant, as he was found to be by the courts below, the defendant was responsible for his negligence. If not, that is the end of the case, and it is not necessary to inquire what would be the measure of liability of the stevedore.

The decision of this question requires us to consider some further facts which were not disputed. The winchman was hired and paid by the defendant, who alone had the right to discharge him. The stevedore agreed to pay the defendant $1.50 a thousand for the hoisting. The stevedore had no control over the movements and conduct of the winchman, except as follows: The hours of labor of the winchman necessarily conformed to the hours of labor of the longshoremen. The winch and winchman were at a place where it was impossible to determine the proper time for hoisting and lowering the draft of cases of oil, and the winchman necessarily depended upon signals from others. These signals were given by an employee of the stevedore, called a gangman, who stood upon the deck of the ship and gave signals to hoist or lower by the blowing of a whistle which could be heard for a long distance. The negligence consisted in lowering a draft of cases before receiving this signal.

This case is here by certiorari from the circuit court of appeals, which affirmed the judgment of the circuit court, because of the supposed conflict of decision in the lower Federal courts. Upon a state of facts much resembling each other, it was held by the circuit court of appeals for the second circuit, in The Slingsby, 57 C. C. A. 52, 120 Fed. 748, that the winchman was the servant of him who furnished the winch and power; and in The Elton, 73 C. C. A. 467, 142 Fed. 367, the contrary conclusion was reached by the circuit court of appeals for the third circuit. In the latter case, it is true, the judgment was rested upon a question of pleading, and the observations of the court upon this subject were unnecessary to the decision. It is by no means certain that both cases do not differ materially from the case at bar as we view it, and we do not deem it necessary to question the conclusions reached in them.

We have examined the authorities selected with discrimination, and pressed upon the attention of the court in the brief compact, and otherwise excellent arguments of counsel, though we do not deem it necessary to refer to all of them.

One who employs a servant to do his work is answerable to strangers for the negligent acts or omissions of the servant, committed in the course of the service. The plaintiff rests his right to recover upon this rule of law, which, though of comparatively modern origin, has come to be elementary. But, however clear the rule may be, its application to the infinitely varied affairs of life is not always easy, because the facts which place a given case within or without the rule cannot always be ascertained with precision. The servant himself is, of course, liable for the consequences of his own carelessness. But when, as is so frequently the case, an attempt is made to impose upon the master the liability for those consequences, it sometimes becomes necessary to inquire who was the master at the very time of the negligent act or omission. One may be in the general service of another, and, nevertheless, with respect to particular work, may be transferred, with his own consent or acquiescence, to the service of a third person, so that he becomes the servant of that person, with all the legal consequences of the new relation.

It is insisted by the defendant that the winchman, though in its general employ, had ceased to be its servant, and had become, for the time being, with respect to the work negligently performed, the servant of the master stevedore. This may be true, although the winchman was selected, employede, paid, and could be discharged by the defendant. If it is true, the defendant is not liable. The case, therefore, turns upon the decision of the question, Whose servant was the winchman when he was guilty of the negligence which caused the injury?

It will aid somewhat in the ascertainment of the true test for determining this question to consider the reason and extent of the rule of a master's responsibility. The reason for the rule is not clarified much by the Latin phrases in which it is sometimes clothed. They are rather restatements than explanations of the rule. The accepted reason for it is that given by Chief Justice Shaw in the case of Farwell v. Boston & W. R. Corp. 4 Met. 49, 38 Am. Dec. 339. In substance, it is that the master is answerable for the wrongs of his servant, not because he has authorized them nor because the servant, in his negligent conduct, represents the master, but because he is conducting the master's affairs, and the master is bound to see that his affairs are so conducted that others are not injured. It is said in that case that this is a 'great principle of social duty,' adopted 'from general considerations of policy and security.' But whether the reasons of the rule be grounded in considerations of policy or rested upon historical tradition, there is a clear limitation to its extent. Guy v. Donald, 203 U. S. 399, 406, 51 L. ed. 245, 247, 27 Sup. Ct. Rep. 63. The master's responsibility cannot be extended beyond the limits of the master's work. If the servant is doing his own work or that of some other, the master is not answerable for his negligence in the performance of it.

It sometimes happens that one wishes a certain work to be done for his benefit, and neither has persons in his employ who can do it nor is willing to take such persons into his general service. He may then enter into an agreement with another. If that other furnishes him with men to do the work, and places them under his exclusive control in the performance of it, those men become pro hac vice the servants of him to whom they are furnished. But, on the other hand, one may prefer to enter into an agreement with another that that other, for a consideration, shall himself perform the work through servants of his own selection, retaining the direction and control of them. In the first case, he to whom the workmen are furnished is responsible for their negligence in the conduct of the work, because the work is his work, and they are, for the time, his workmen. In the second case, he who agrees to furnish the completed work through servants over whom he retains control is responsible for their negligence in the conduct of it, because, though it is done for the ultimate benefit of the other, it is still, in its doing, his own work. To determine whether a given case falls within the one class or the other we must in- quire whose is the work being performed,—a question which is usually answered by ascertaining who has the power to control and direct the servants in the performance of their work. Here we must carefully distinguish between authoritative direction and control, and mere suggestion as to details or the necessary cooperation, where the work furnished is part of a larger undertaking.

These principles are sustained by the great weight of authority, to which some reference will now be made. The simplest case, and that which was earliest decided, was where horses and a driver were furnished by a liveryman. In such cases the hirer, though he suggests the course of the journey, and, in a certain sense, directs it, still does not become the master of the driver, and responsible for his negligence, unless he specifically directs or brings about the negligent act. Quarman v. Burnett, 6 Mess. & W. 499; Jones v. Liverpool, L. R. 14 Q. B. Div. 890; Little v. Hackett, 116 U. S. 366, 29 L. ed. 652, 6 Sup. Ct. Rep. 391....