Court Opinion

ID: 9849924
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 04:49:43.65025+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:29.231954
License: Public Domain

Felton, Chief Judge,
dissenting. In my opinion there is no evidence in this case authorizing the finding that the St. Regis Paper Company had or exercised the right of control of the *856time and manner in which the Bennett-Nixon Timber Company-performed its services under its contract with the St. Regis Paper Company. The Bennett-Nixon Timber Company is a corporation engaged in a business separate and distinct from that of the St. Regis Paper Company and the fact that the St. Regis Paper Company had the. right to mark the trees to be cut and to direct how much was to be cut each week does not include the authority to control the time and manner of the cutting of the pulpwood trees. I do not think that the cases cited in the opinion by Judge Nichols are authority for the ruling in this case. The cases are clearly distinguishable on their facts. One distinction is that we would not have involved a separate corporation in an independent business. In my opinion the following cases control this case. Scott v. Minor, 55 Ga. App. 714 (191 S. E. 263); Irving v. Home Accident Ins. Co., 36 Ga. App. 551 (137 S. E. 105); Alexander-Bland Lumber Co. v. Jenkins, 87 Ga. App. 678 (75 S. E. 2d 355); Banks v. Ellijay Lumber Co., 59 Ga. App. 270 (200 S. E. 480); Mauney v. Collins, 64 Ga. App. 330 (13 S. E. 2d 97); Employers Liability Assurance Corp. v. Smith, 86 Ga. App. 230 (71 S. E. 2d 289). Furthermore, I do not think that the evidence authorizes a finding that there was any collusion on the part of the St. Regis Paper Company to circumvent the provisions of Code § 114-111. Whether the Bennett-Nixon Timber Company was the employer of the claimant is not for determination at this time.
Townsend, J., concurs in the foregoing dissent.