Summary
In Bratt v. Midland Asphalt Corp. (8 N.Y.2d 963), the owner of a "hired" truck, hauling asphalt for the Jamestown Macadam Company at a rate of 80 cents a ton, struck plaintiffs' automobile head on. Where the company arranged the deliveries, even though no income or Social Security taxes were withheld from the payments made to the truckers, the nature of the relationship between the company and the truck owner was held to be a question of fact.
Summary of this case from Bermudez v. RuizOpinion
Argued May 24, 1960
Decided July 8, 1960
Appeal from the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the Fourth Judicial Department, JOSEPH A. NEVINS, J.
John L. Goodell for appellants.
J. Edmund De Castro, Jr., for respondent.
Judgment reversed and a new trial granted, with costs to abide the event, upon the ground that the evidence in this case created a question of fact as to the nature of the relationship between defendant-respondent and defendant trucker. It, therefore, was error for the trial court to charge that defendant trucker was an independent contractor as a matter of law ( Johnson v. R.T.K. Petroleum Co., 289 N.Y. 101). No opinion.
Concur: Chief Judge DESMOND and Judges DYE, FULD, FROESSEL, VAN VOORHIS, BURKE and FOSTER.