Court Opinion

ID: 9648178
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 14:07:35.978125+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:56.904942
License: Public Domain

MASSEY, Chief Justice
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent.
It seems to me that if the record upon the evidence be considered without inclusion of the contract entered into by Ray Nichols Cherry, the deceased, and Carter Publications, Inc., the defendant (by which the status of independent contractor for the former was agreed upon by and between themselves), there would be no doubt but that plaintiff Mid-Continent Freight Lines, Inc., would have made out a prima facie case of liability against the defendant. If so, the case so made would inhibit the entry of summary judgment against plaintiff. The contract would be evidence tendered in behalf of the defendant in denial or in rebuttal of the case so made out by the plaintiff, and it could not serve to destroy the prima facie case of the plaintiff unless its effect would be to conclusively rebut the *890same. I do not believe that the contract whether taken alone or in connection with undisputed evidence established, did conclusively rebut the prima facie case theretofore made by the plaintiff. It follows, therefore, if I am correct in my opinion, that there existed for trial ultimate fact issues determinative of defendant’s liability.
I would reverse the judgment and remand the cause for a trial on the merits.