Worsham v. Transpersonnel, Inc.

• Decision Date: 09 February 1993
• Docket Number: No. 0188-92-3,0188-92-3
• Citation: Worsham v. Transpersonnel, Inc., 426 S.E.2d 497, 15 Va.App. 681 (Va. App. 1993)
• Parties: Robert Bartow WORSHAM, Jr. v. TRANSPERSONNEL, INC., et al. Record
• Court: Virginia Court of Appeals

Page 497

426 S.E.2d 497

15 Va.App. 681

Robert Bartow WORSHAM, Jr. v. TRANSPERSONNEL, INC., et al.

Record No. 0188-92-3.

Court of Appeals of Virginia.

Feb. 9, 1993.

Deborah S. O'Toole, Richmond (Cowan & Owen, on brief), for appellant.

C. Ervin Reid, Richmond (Wright, Robinson, McCammon, Osthimer & Tatum, on brief), for appellees.

Present: MOON, ELDER and FITZPATRICK, JJ.

MOON, Judge.

The sole issue on appeal is whether Transpersonnel, Inc. maintained its "place of business in this Commonwealth" when Robert Bartow Worsham, Jr. was injured on September 17, 1990, while helping unload a truck at the Nabisco plant in Chicago, Illinois. Finding that the commission's decision that Transpersonnel did not maintain its place of business in Virginia is not plainly wrong, we affirm the dismissal of Worsham's claim.

Transpersonnel, Inc., an Illinois corporation, maintains its principal office in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Transpersonnel is in the business of supplying interstate truck drivers to major companies. James N. Mills, Transpersonnel's eastern regional manager, testified that the company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Manpower, Inc. Transpersonnel is licensed to conduct business in Virginia, but has no offices or facilities in Virginia and does not pay any licensing fees in Virginia for trucks or equipment.

The trucks that Transpersonnel's employees drive for Nabisco are leased by Nabisco from Ryder, a truck rental and leasing company. No showing was made of any contact with Virginia by Transpersonnel, except for the Transpersonnel drivers going to Nabisco's plant and driving away a Ryder-owned truck carrying Nabisco products.

Worsham was employed as a long distance truck driver in 1976 by Affiliated Drivers, which had a contract with Nabisco. This contract provided that Affiliated Drivers would supply drivers to Nabisco, and these drivers would then transport Nabisco products in a vehicle provided by Nabisco. Transpersonnel assumed Affiliated Drivers' contract with Nabisco in 1983. Worsham thus became a Transpersonnel employee. He received his instructions from Transpersonnel's eastern regional office in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His paychecks were mailed to him at his home in Richmond from Transpersonnel's headquarters in Milwaukee.

The applicable statute dealing with jurisdiction over foreign injuries and employers is Code § 65.2-508, which provides in pertinent part:

When an accident happens while the employee is employed elsewhere than in this Commonwealth which would entitle him or his dependents to compensation if it had happened in this Commonwealth, the employee or his dependents shall be entitled to...