Case Title: Jones v. Watkins

Citation: 364 So. 2d 1144

Docket Number: 

State: alabama

Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Date: 1978-12-01T00:00:00Z

Document:
364 So. 2d 1144 (1978)
Richard Walter JONES
v.
Roger WATKINS et al.
77-100.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
December 1, 1978.
Myron K. Allenstein, Gadsden, for appellant.
Jack W. Torbert of Torbert, Turnbach & Warren, Gadsden, for appellees.
EMBRY, Justice.
Richard Walter Jones filed an action against Roger Watkins and Charlie Watkins. The portions of his complaint pertinent here read:
Although not relevant to a decision we note that Jones' wife Karen was added as a plaintiff by amendment, claiming damages for loss of consortium.
*1145 To the complaint, the Watkinses filed a motion to dismiss the grounds of which are:
The trial court granted the motion to dismiss, undoubtedly treating it as a motion for summary judgment as permitted by Rule 12(b)(6), ARCP. Judgment was entered dismissing Jones' action and he appeals.
The trial court dismissed Jones' action before this court announced its decision in Grantham v. Denke, 359 So. 2d 785 (Ala. 1978), holding unconstitutional the immunity from suit granted co-employees by, what is now, § 25-5-11, Code 1975.
The Watkinses argue that under Grantham and subsequent decisions of this court:
The "involved" section of the code is that part of § 25-5-11, Code 1975, reading:
At the outset, we note there is no evidence in the affidavits that the Watkinses are other than co-employees. That being true, we have before us nothing different from the fact situation in Grantham. Thus, there is nothing in this record showing a bar to Jones' action. Under the pleadings and affidavits it is possible Jones might recover in his action. Benson v. Pachetti, 349 So. 2d 17 (Ala.1977). The case must, therefore, be reversed and remanded.
For guidance of the trial courts and litigants we observe that immunity of officers, directors, etc., was not raised in Grantham, *1146 nor was it addressed. Neither was it properly raised, nor is it addressed here. Even if it be assumed that officers, directors, etc., may be held immune from suit by an injured employee of the corporation without violating Section 13 of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901 there remains the question of whether he, or she, is immune from suit by the injured employee when standing in the shoes of the corporate entity as such. The answer to this question may well turn on the nature of the function or work being performed by the officer or director who may then become a co-employee of the injured employee. Mount Pleasant Mining Corp. v. Vermeulen, 117 Ind.App. 33, 65 N.E.2d 642 (1946). The North Carolina Supreme Court in Jones v. Planters' National Bank & Trust Co., 206 N.C. 214, 173 S.E. 595 (1934), held the test to be not the title of the person, but the nature and quality of the act he is performing. Although these cases deal with officers seeking employee status in order to claim workmen's compensation, we find this test one which may be applicable in resolving the question implicit in the arguments, pro and con, on the question of whether one holding a position as corporate officer, director, etc. may be legally immunized by the statute from suit by an injured corporate employee.
An officer may exercise a dual function and enjoy a dual capacity in a corporation. Depending on his, or her, function at the time of injury, he, or she, may not be immune from suit by an injured employee.
Which function the officer is fulfilling is a matter of fact. In small closely held corporations the likelihood of officers or directors acting as employees is greater than that in larger corporations. See In re Raynes, 66 Ind.App. 321, 118 N.E. 387 (1917).
Nevertheless, no evidence concerning the Watkinses' functional role in the corporation at the time of Jones' injury is present in this case. The judgment of the circuit court must, therefore, be reversed and the cases remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
BLOODWORTH, FAULKNER and ALMON, JJ., concur.
TORBERT, C. J., concurs in the result.