Court Opinion

ID: 9509495
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 21:46:38.493262+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:07:49.681961
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE GRAY,
specially concurring.
I concur in the Court’s opinion and write separately only to clarify the basis for my agreement with the Court’s result.
The Workers’ Compensation Court made detailed findings of fact in this case and provided a complete legal analysis supporting its decision. The court determined that the right of control and equipment factors we have used to analyze independent contractor status weighed in favor of independent contractor status here. While these conclusions of the Workers’ Compensation Court are not incorrect, it is clear from the record before us that neither factor is particularly strong in this case.
The Workers’ Compensation Court also determined that the method of payment and right to terminate factors were, in essence, neutral in this case and did not weigh in favor of either independent contractor or employee status. Again, the court was correct. To this point, the record does not establish the “convincing accumulation of evidence” we have concluded is necessary to result in an independent contractor determination. See Sharp v. Hoerner-Waldorf Corp. (1978), 178 Mont. 419, 584 P.2d 1298.
The final factor, then, is the independent business factor. The Workers’ Compensation Court determined that the independent business factor weighed in support of independent contractor status. This Court holds that the court erred in that determination, concluding that Lundberg is not engaged in the independent business of timber purchases. I agree. The net result is that the independent business factor weighs in support of employee status in this case.
We also determined in Sharp that employee status may be proved on the strength of one of the factors. Sharp, 584 P.2d at 1302. That is the result of the lack of Lundberg’s participation in the independent business of timber purchases in this case. Nor, in this case, do the other statutory factors present a convincing accumulation of evidence in support of independent contractor status.
JUSTICE NELSON joins the foregoing special concurrence of JUSTICE GRAY.