Court Opinion

ID: 9565454
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:21:36.505782+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:19:39.342815
License: Public Domain

HALL, Chief Justice
(dissenting):
I dissent for the reason that the findings of the Commission are without any substantial evidence to support them.
The standard of review in this case is as was recently stated in Kaiser Steel Corp. v. Monfredi:1
[T]he reviewing court’s inquiry is whether the Commission's findings are “arbitrary and capricious,” or “wholly without cause” or contrary to the “one [inevitable] conclusion from the evidence” or without “any substantial evidence” to support them. Only then should the Commission’s findings be displaced.
(Bracketed language in original.)
U.C.A., 1953, § 35-1-43 defines a so-called “statutory employee” as a contractor who performs work over which the employer retains supervision and control and defines an independent contractor as one who performs work not subject to the rule or control of the employer.
In the instant case, the informality of the oral agreement between the parties does not reasonably support an inference that Pinter thereby retained the degree of supervision and control necessary to make Frisby a statutory employee. In fact, the terms of the contract dictate the “one [inevitable] conclusion”2 that the agreement of the parties established an independent contractor relationship. This is to be seen in that Frisby plainly and unequivocally agreed to construct the building over a period of some forty days, for which Pinter agreed to pay the lump sum of $25,000 without any employee deductions of any kind. The agreement provided for nothing more and nothing less.
The fact that Pinter advanced 10 percent of the total contract price in order to finance Frisby’s purchase of the building materials also does not give rise to any reasonable inference that the parties established other than an independent contractor relationship. If Frisby was in fact an employer, reason would dictate that he would have been placed on the payroll as an employee and Pinter, not Frisby, would have purchased and furnished the materials necessary to construct the building.
The fact that Pinter expressed concern that Frisby would not meet the construction deadline if he did not leave his other ongoing job of building a horse arena and get back on the Pinter job, certainly does not reflect the degree of control that accompanies an employer-employee relationship. It simply reflects the natural concern and contract right Pinter had to insist that the work contracted for be completed in a timely manner.
The majority also opines that because Pinter had a contractual obligation to He-ber Light and Power to provide workmen’s compensation to all workers, Frisby is entitled to coverage. However, irrespective of his contract with Heber Light and Power, Pinter had a statutory duty to provide coverage to employees. What is at issue here is not whether Pinter had a duty to provide coverage to employees, but rather, whether Frisby was in fact an employee. It can only be concluded that he was not.
Frisby performed and was treated in all respects as an independent contractor. He agreed to complete the construction of a building within a designated time; he was paid in a lump sum, rather than by the hour, and without any of the mandatory payroll deductions applicable to employees; and he in turn hired and paid others to *311assist him in the construction of the building, all without the supervision and control of Pinter.
I would vacate the order of the Commission.
HOWE, J., concurs in the dissenting opinion of HALL, C.J.

. Utah, 631 P.2d 888, 890 (1981).

. Id.