Story v. Crouch Lumber Co.
| Decision Date | 01 December 1939 |
| Docket Number | 27594. |
| Citation | 6 S.E.2d 86,61 Ga.App. 210 |
| Parties | STORY v. CROUCH LUMBER CO. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
R J. Bacon, of Albany, for plaintiff in error.
Fred W. Lagerquist, Jr., and Rosser Malone, both of Albany, for defendant in error.
Clarence E. Story brought suit for damages on account of personal injuries against the Crouch Lumber Company. Plaintiff alleged that he was employed by the defendant to do carpenter work in fixing certain counters and other fixtures in a store building, that he was under the direction and supervision of Britt Jones who had been placed in charge of the particular work and given the plans and specifications and the directive authority by the defendant as to how and what should be done, that the defendant, through Jones, was directing the plaintiff how and what to do in the premises throughout all the time and in regard to all the acts done and to be done by the plaintiff in the store, that while the plaintiff was so working, Jack Crouch, supervising agent of the defendant, came to the store and abusively reprimanded Jones for not hurrying the job up faster, and caused Jones to become enraged, that shortly after Crouch left, Jones continued in a rage, and while in the work and directing and carrying on the work and operations of the defendant, and while engaged in the work of the defendant in supervising the work of the plaintiff, "as was the nondelegable duty of the defendant to your plaintiff in the premises", Jones committed the acts hereafter complained of, that the plaintiff was required to swing some doors on the front side of the counter in the store, and asked Jones for directions as to which side the doors were to open on, and Jones, in a violent rage, failed to immediately give directions, and when plaintiff stooped to pick up a screwdriver in connection with his work, Jones hit him in the back of the head with a two by two scantling, that this blow was administered without justification or excuse, and that the plaintiff was injured thereby. By an amendment to the petition the plaintiff alleged that he stooped down to pick up the screwdriver for the purpose of and with the intention of swinging the doors of the counter as he should be directed by Jones as soon as Jones should give the directions as to which side the doors were to open on, that plaintiff did not know at the time of the assault made on him by Jones that Jones was of a "violent and dangerous disposition and incompetent servant" by reason of his ungovernable temper and ferocious conduct, that Jones was an incompetent servant "a ferocious and dangerous individual to have anything to do with, and that he had an ungovernable temper and was like a crazy man when his temper was aroused, and was a dangerous individual, and the said defendant company either knew or should have known that the said Jones was such a violent character when they hired him" and placed him to direct the plaintiff, and that it was a breach of duty owing to the plaintiff by the defendant that the defendant placed the plaintiff to work with such a character as Jones, who possessed such a "violent, dangerous and ungovernable and ferocious disposition and temperament", that the rousing of Jones into such a rage, which produced the plaintiff's injury and precipitated the assault upon him "was done by the said Jack Crouch *** and the said assault upon your petitioner was both wilful and wanton," and that all of the acts complained of as done by Jones were within the scope of his employment by the defendant. The defendant demurred to the petition. To the judgment sustaining the demurrer and dismissing the petition, the plaintiff excepts.
Where two workmen are engaged on the same job and are subject to the direction and control of the same master or employer they may be fellow servants with each other, although one has the right to direct the other in...
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