Associated Indemnity Corp. v. Industrial Accident Commission
Associated Indemnity Corp. v. Industrial Accident Commission
Opinion of the Court
The petitioner, who was the insurance carrier for Assets Corporation, seeks to annul an award of the respondent commission in favor of the respondent Cagle.
The respondent Briscoe was the owner of two ranches in Fresno County situated about one-eighth of a mile apart,
Briscoe was employed by the Assets Corporation as foreman on parcel 1 at a salary of $100 per month, and was under the direct supervision of a “field man” employed by that corporation and under the indirect supervision of its higher officials. Briscoe owned a team of mules which was kept on parcel 1 and mainly used thereon although occasionally used by him on parcel 2. On a few occasions when they were not otherwise needed these mules were loaned by Briscoe to neighbors for use on their ranches. The cost of feeding these mules was charged as one of the expenses of farming parcel 1 and later, during some two years, Briscoe took hay which he had raised on parcel 2' and hauled the same to parcel 1 where it was used in feeding the mules. During these two years, with the knowledge and consent of the officers and agents of the Assets Corporation, he took its employees from parcel 1 and used them to cut the hay on parcel 2 and later to haul the same to parcel 1. At such times the wages of these men were paid by the Assets Corporation and no charge was made for the hay by Briscoe as any saving thus effected inured to his benefit in reducing his indebtedness.
In April, 1934, Briscoe used certain of these employees of the Assets Corporation in hauling some material from parcel 2 to parcel 1 which was used in erecting a tool shed thereon. About the same time he took certain of the employees of the Assets Corporation, including the respondent
The only point raised is that there is no evidence to support the finding of the respondent commission that Cagle was employed by the Assets Corporation at the time of his injury. The petitioner contends that while Briscoe was an agent of the Assets Corporation in connection with parcel 1 he was acting entirely on his own behalf in connection with anything done on parcel 2, and that since Cagle was injured while building a barn on parcel 2, he was at the time an employee of Briscoe and not of the Assets Corporation.
While Briscoe apparently failed to keep the affairs of the two ranches as separate and distinct as might be desired, we think there is sufficient evidence to sustain the finding complained of. It clearly appears that Briscoe had been in the habit of taking men from parcel 1 to cut the hay on parcel 2 and to haul the same to parcel 1, where it was used to feed mules which were mainly used upon that ranch, that the Assets Corporation knew of this custom and had consented thereto and that it paid the wages of the men so used. The use of this hay reduced by so much the amount which the Assets Corporation was obligated to advance. Cagle had been on the payroll of the Assets Corporation and regularly employed on parcel 1 for some seven months before the accident. Briscoe was foreman on that ranch with the right to employ and discharge men, and while he received instructions from his superiors he alone gave orders to the men as to what work was to be done. On the day of the accident several men who were engaged in irrigating and hoeing vines on parcel 1, including Cagle, were taken by Briscoe to parcel 2 and directed to assist in putting a roof on the barn. Within an hour thereafter the accident occurred. The time of these men for that day, including the time spent working on the barn, was turned in to the Assets Corporation by Briscoe and their wages were paid by that corporation as on former occasions when such men had been taken to cut and haul the hay raised on parcel 2. Cagle was employed by and was on the payroll of the Assets Corporation, he was subject to the orders of its foreman Briscoe,
For the reasons given the award is affirmed.
Marks, J., and Jennings, J., concurred.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.