Court Opinion

ID: 9764491
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 03:24:28.11241+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:57.319334
License: Public Domain

EARL B. STOVER, Justice,
concurring.
I concur, but I also would note that my holding is limited to the narrow facts of this case. The broad issue in this case is whether a logging contractor is responsible for the negligence of a log hauler. Clearly, this tragic accident would not have occurred without the negligence of Fields, the log hauler. Thus, the issue is whether Ellis, the logging contractor, is liable under the various causes of action pleaded by the appellants herein for the accident in which Earl Malone was killed. However, in determining that issue, the key question is whether the logging contractor had the “right to control” or the right of mutual control over the log hauler with respect to the details of the work. Today we affirm the trial court’s summary judgment and find Ellis is not hable in this instance because, among other reasons, he did not have control of the details of Fields’ work.