Source: https://m.openjurist.org/245/us/489
Timestamp: 2020-04-08 07:00:59
Document Index: 762319107

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 251', '§ 1228', '§ 240', '§ 1217', '§ 2', '§ 1214']

245 US 489 George Fuller Co v. Otis Elevator Co | OpenJurist
245 U.S. 489 - George Fuller Co v. Otis Elevator Co
245 US 489 George Fuller Co v. Otis Elevator Co
38 S.Ct. 180
62 L.Ed. 422
This is a suit brought by the petitioner to recover indemnity for a judgment that it had to pay in pursuance of the decision of this court in George A. Fuller Co. v. McCloskey, 228 U. S. 194, 33 Sup. Ct. 471, 57 L. Ed. 795. McCloskey, the plaintiff in the former suit, was injured upon an elevator through the negligence of Locke, the man in charge of it. He was at work for the Mackay Company, which was doing some painting under a subcontract with the defendant, the present petitioner, which, it was held, as between the parties then concerned, made the defendant answerable for Locke. The petitioner had constructed an office building under an agreement with the owner, Hibbs. The Otis Elevator Company had put in the elevators, also under an agreement with Hibbs, and furnished the man Locke upon a somewhat vague understanding with the petitioner, which, the latter contends, left Locke the servant of the Elevator Company as between the parties now before this court. If the petitioner is right and the primary duty rested on the Elevator Company it may recover in the present suit, unless the former proceedings constitute a bar. Washington Gas Light Co. v. District of Columbia, 161 U. S. 316, 328, 16 Sup. Ct. 564, 40 L. Ed. 712.
The former judgment did not decide that the evidence in the present case showed as matter of law that Locke, who was in the general service of the Otis Company, was transferred for the moment to the petitioner. It did decide as matter of law that as between the Mackay Company and the petitioner their agreement left the petitioner responsible. It had no occasion to decide and did not purport to decide more. Even if it had gone farther it would have been res inter alios as an adjudication and it would not have been a precedent because the evidence in the present case had additional details which, if meagre, still made it impossible to say as matter of law that the Otis Company did not retain control.
It is objected to the writ of certiorari in this case that there was no final judgment; but the writ when issued to the Court of Appeals is not limited to cases in which final judgment has been entered, but only to cases in which the judgment when entered is final. Judicial Code, § 251 (Comp. St. 1916, § 1228). The words 'with the same power and authority in the case as if it had been carried by writ of error or appeal to said Supreme Court' express the character of the power, not its conditions, as the power is granted only when a writ of error or appeal does not lie. See Judicial Code, § 240 (Comp. St. 1916, § 1217). Denver v. New York Trust Co., 229 U. S. 123, 133, 33 Sup. Ct. 657, 57 L. Ed. 1101. The decision in Bruce v. Tobin, 245 U. S. 18, 38 Sup. Ct. 7, 62 L. Ed. ——, cited for the respondent, is concerned with the Act of September 6, 1916, c. 448, § 2, 39 Stat. 726 (Comp. St. 1916, § 1214), which requires a final judgment in terms.