Court Opinion

ID: 9578422
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:45:07.953712+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:24:55.689150
License: Public Domain

Eberhardt, Presiding Judge,
dissenting. "In determining whether or not the relationship of master and servant prevails in a compensation case, the same principles that exist under the common law obtain ... As stated in 18 RCL 784, §244: 'The fact that an employee is the general servant of one employer does not, as a matter of law, prevent him from becoming the particular servant of another, who may become liable for his acts. And it is true as a general proposition that when one person lends his servant to another for a particular employment, the servant, for anything done in that particular employment, must be dealt with as the servant of the man to whom he is lent, although he remains the general servant of the person who lent him.’” Travelers Ins. Co. v. Clark, 58 Ga. App. 115, 121 (197 SE 650). Accord: Adams v. Johnson, 88 Ga. App. 94 (76 SE2d 135).
The common law rule is found in Brown v. Smith, 86 Ga. 274 (12 SE 411); Ed Smith & Sons v. Mathis, 217 Ga. 354 (2) (122 SE2d 97); Cooper v. Plott, 226 Ga. 647 (177 SE2d 82); Greenberg & Bond Co. v. Yarbrough, 26 Ga. App. 544 (106 SE 624); Reaves v. Columbus Elec. &c. Co., 32 Ga. App. 140 (122 SE 824); Bibb Mfg. Co. v. Souther, 52 Ga. App. 722 (184 SE 421); Delcher Bros. Storage Co. v. Reynolds & Manley Lmbr. Co., 80 Ga. App. 288, 292 (55 SE2d 864); Yellow Cab Co. of Savannah v. Cohen, 90 Ga. App. 104 (82 SE2d 27); Fulghum Industries, Inc. v. Pollard Lmbr. Co., 106 Ga. App. 49 (126 SE2d 432); Merry Bros. Brick &c. Co. v. Jackson, 120 Ga. App. 716 (171 SE2d 924).
The representative of the same claimant, Mr. Forrester, was before us in a common law action in Forrester v. Scott, 125 Ga. App. 245 (187 SE2d 323) and we concluded in that case that at the time of his injury, applying the common law rule, he was a special servant of Scott Brothers Construction Company. The evidence in this compensation case is the same, or substantially so, and we can see no reason why we should now reach a different result. Accordingly, *768the compensation proceeding should have been instituted against Scott Brothers instead of against the general employer, Charles D. Wise Construction Company.
My brothers Quillian and Evans, having dissented in Forrester v. Scott, are consistent in their position here, but I cannot understand how those who joined in the majority opinion can assume a contrary stance. A consistent position would place them with this dissent.
The judgment should be reversed.
I am authorized to state that Chief Judge Bell and Presiding Judge Hall join in this dissent.