Diamond Drill Contracting Co. v. Industrial Accident Commission

WASTE, C. J.

A claim was filed with the respondent Industrial Accident Commission by Elizabeth Winnifred Stanton on behalf of herself and her' three minor children, seeking compensation for the death of her husband, James H. Stanton, which resulted from injuries received in the course of his employment. She joined as parties' defendant the Diamond Drill Contracting Company and its insurance carrier, the State Compensation Insurance Fund, and the General Petroleum Corporation and its insurance carrier, the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company. The Commission found that Stanton was injured while employed as an oiler by the Diamond Drill Contracting Company and that the General Petroleum Corporation was not the employer at the time. It made an award in favor of the applicants and against the State Compensation Insurance Fund, as insurance carrier, in the sum of $4,900, and

[696]

relieved the Diamond Drill Contracting Company from liability. The defendants General Petroleum Corporation and Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company were dismissed from the action. A petition for a rehearing before the Commission was denied, and the Diamond Drill Company and State Insurance Fund sought, and were granted, a writ of

certiorari

to this court to review the award, on the ground that the evidence is not sufficient to support the finding of the Commission that the Drill Company was Stanton’s employer at the time of his injury, and that there is no evidence supporting the finding that the Petroleum Corporation was not his employer.

General Petroleum Corporation and Diamond Drill Contracting Company entered into a contract for the drilling of three test-holes, at a stipulated price per foot, the Petroleum Corporation to have the option of terminating the agreement at any time during the drilling of the first well on payment of an agreed price per foot for the depth drilled. The Drill Company installed its equipment and began the work of drilling. Prior to the completion of the first hole, drilling operations were terminated by mutual consent. The Petroleum Corporation then decided to convert the test-hole into a water-well and it was arranged that Butler, the foreman of the Drill Company, and a portion of his crew, including Stanton, should remain to assist in this work. The Petroleum Corporation’s engineer, Powers, and Eichart, its expert perforator, assumed charge of the work of perforating the casing of the hole in the process of converting it into a water-well. The perforating equipment was furnished by the Petroleum Corporation. There is, in effect, no conflict in the evidence as to who actually instructed and had direction of the work. Butler, the Drill Company’s foreman, received his orders in connection with this particular perforating job from the Petroleum Corporation’s experts. He, in turn, passed the instructions on to his men. If he happened to be away, the men received instructions direct from Powers or Eichart. The men’s wages were advanced by the Drill Company, which was reimbursed by the Petroleum Corporation for the actual amount paid. At the time of Stanton’s injury the crew was engaged in making a test to determine whether the perforating job was satisfactory. Stanton was dump