Opinion ID: 2549793
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: answers to the certified questions

Text: ¶ 4 We answer the first certified question as follows. A vendor of merchandise does not qualify as an independent contractor for the vendee it supplies within the meaning of 85 O.S. § 11 such that a retailer may potentially assume workers' compensation liability (and quid pro quo tort immunity) as a principal employer of the vendor's employees. Further, we conclude that the actions of the vendor in this case (delivering, stocking, rotating, inventorying, and promoting Miller beer at the PX), do not make it AAFES' independent contractor under § 11. ¶ 5 We decline to answer the second certified question because Southern Sales is not an independent contractor of AAFES and because that relationship is a threshold predicate for assessing AAFES' status as a principal employer under § 11.