Opinion
(Filed 5 June, 1942.)
Appeal and Error § 38 —
When the Supreme Court is evenly divided in opinion, one Justice not sitting, the judgment of the lower court will be affirmed without becoming a precedent.
APPEAL by defendants from Johnson, Special Judge, at October Term, 1941, of HALIFAX.
Long Crew and McMullan McMullan for plaintiffs, appellees.
Hughes, Little Seawell and Allsbrook Benton for defendants, appellants.
The appeal was from a judgment of the Superior Court affirming an award made to the plaintiffs by the North Carolina Industrial Commission as compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Act for the death of Joseph E. Suiter.
The defendants admitted the employment, but claimed that Suiter was an independent contractor and, moreover, if an employee within the terms of the Act, that he was not at the time of his death engaged in the duties of such employment.
Upon the hearing of the matter, the Court divided three to three, Justice Schenck not sitting.
Under the Rule of Court, the judgment of the court below stands affirmed, and this decision does not become a precedent.
Affirmed.