Opinion ID: 398977
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Borrowed Servant Doctrine.

Text: 32 Manitowoc requested an instruction on the borrowed servant doctrine as a basis for imputing Way's negligence to Kiewit. 3 The court refused to instruct on the borrowed servant doctrine on the ground that Manitowoc had not established that Kiewit's employees had a right to control Way's operation of the crane. We believe that the evidence viewed most favorably to Manitowoc raises a jury question on whether liability may be attributed to Kiewit under the borrowed servant doctrine. 33 YES_____ or NO_______ YES_____ or NO_______ YES_____ or NO_______ YES_____ or NO_______ YES_____ or NO_______ 34 As we have already observed, Way's duties as an employee of Manitowoc included supervising assembly of the crane and boom, and instructing Kiewit's operator on the new controls. 4 His orders from Manitowoc, however, did not require him to operate the crane during assembly. That function belonged to Kiewit. At the request of Kiewit's equipment superintendent, Bill Gerioux, Way agreed to operate the crane, 5 and walked it from the railroad station to an area a mile away where the crane was loaded onto trucks and hauled to the power plant construction site. 35 After Kiewit had transported the crane unit and boom sections to the construction site for assembly, Way continued to operate the crane for Kiewit. 6 Way's testimony further indicates that Kiewit directed and controlled his operation of the crane during assembly. 7 36 On Saturday, July 19, 1975, Way, along with Kiewit's employees and four employees from another contractor, completed assembly of the crane boom at the construction site. (Tr. at 710.) Way parked the newly assembled Manitowoc crane near an earthen embankment at the direction of one of the workers who had assisted in the assembly. (Tr. at 716.) 37 On Monday, July 21, 1975, Kiewit assigned Richard Anderson to operate the crane. Anderson and Way arrived at the construction site early on July 21, 1975, and became acquainted. Before moving the crane, Way instructed Anderson on how to operate the air controls and explained the differences between the air controls and the manual controls Anderson had previously operated. During their conversation, Anderson noted the position of the crane near the embankment and asked Way how to get the crane out of there. (Tr. at 182.) According to Way's testimony, which Anderson's testimony confirmed in part, 8 the following conversation occurred:Q (By attorney for Manitowoc) And then what did you proceed to do after giving him a talk? 38 A (By Way) I asked him if he wanted me to swing it around. He said he didn't care, so I said, Okay. I'll swing it around for you. (Tr. at 715 (emphasis added).) 39 As Way moved the boom, it hit the overhead electric line, causing the damage of which plaintiffs complained. The record establishes that Anderson was watching the operation of the machine at the time of the accident, and that Kiewit's oiler, Stephen Wettels, was in the vicinity. 40 In refusing to submit a borrowed servant instruction, the trial court relied on the right to control test set out in Nepstad v. Lambert, 235 Minn. 1, 50 N.W.2d 614 (1951). In determining whether an employee becomes a borrowed servant, the Nepstad court focused on the act that gave rise to the injury and which employer's business was furthered by the crane operator's movement of the crane. 41 The crucial question is which employer had the right to control the particular act giving rise to the injury. In this connection, Restatement, Agency, § 227, comment a(2), states: 42     Since the question of liability is always raised because of some specific act done, the important question is not whether or not he remains the servant of the general employer as to matters generally, but whether or not, as to the act in question, he is acting in the business of and under the direction of one or the other. 43 (Nepstad v. Lambert, supra, 50 N.W.2d at 721-22 (emphasis in original).) 44 In Ismil v. L. H. Sowles Co., 295 Minn. 120, 203 N.W.2d 354 (1972), the Supreme Court of Minnesota again focused on which employer's business was furthered during the negligent operation of a crane. 45 The tests of the Nepstad case were sufficiently satisfied by the evidence to compel a jury determination of whether Grobe was a loaned servant. The accident occurred in the course of pouring concrete, and that function was clearly the responsibility of Kraus-Anderson. The jury could reasonably have found that the business of Kraus-Anderson (the borrowing employer) and not Sowles (the general employer) was being furthered at the time of the negligent crane operation. (203 N.W.2d at 357-58 (emphasis added).) 46 Similarly, the evidence in this case provided a sufficient basis to permit a jury to consider whether Way was a borrowed servant of Kiewit. From the testimony adduced at trial, a jury could infer that Way's operation of the crane during assembly and on the morning of the accident furthered the business of Kiewit. Although Way served Manitowoc's purpose by demonstrating the controls to Kiewit's employee, Anderson, he also furthered Kiewit's business by starting to move the crane to the excavation site. Thus, a jury could find that Way's single act of moving the crane boom served the purposes of both his general employer, Manitowoc, and his borrowing employer, Kiewit. See Restatement (Second) of Agency § 226 (1957). 47 Moreover, a jury could infer from Kiewit's ownership of the crane and the assignment of its employees to the crane, that Kiewit possessed the right to control Way's operation of the crane at the time of the accident. Anderson, as Kiewit's operator, had the right and authority to direct Wettels, the oiler assigned to the crane, to stand lookout to guide Way's movement of the crane. 9 Kiewit's failure actually to direct Way's movement of the crane does not negate its liability. The basis for imposing liability under the borrowed servant doctrine is the right to control, not whether the borrowing employer actually exercised that right at the time of the accident. See Nepstad v. Lambert, supra, 50 N.W.2d at 623. 48 Thus, viewing the evidence and the reasonable inferences therefrom most favorably to Manitowoc, a jury could find that Way became Kiewit's borrowed servant for the purpose of operating the crane, and that Kiewit, through its employees, possessed the right to control Way's operation of the crane at the time of the accident. 49 A finding of liability based on the borrowed servant doctrine ordinarily will absolve the general employer of liability and shift total liability for the servant's negligent acts to the borrowing employer. See Ismil v. L.H. Sowles Co., supra, 203 N.W.2d at 357. A total shift in liability does not occur, however, when the servant simultaneously performs an act which falls within the scope of employment for both the general employer and the borrowing employer. See Restatement (Second) of Agency § 226 (1957). 10 Way's acting as a borrowed servant for Kiewit at the time of the accident therefore will not absolve Manitowoc from liability because, in demonstrating the controls of the crane at the time of the accident, Way also acted in the course and scope of his employment for Manitowoc. Thus, application of the borrowed servant doctrine in this case could result in apportionment of fault between Manitowoc and Kiewit, because Way's single act served the purposes of both employers. However, no judgment can be entered against Kiewit because of the release it obtained in settlement with plaintiffs. 50