Lloyd Corp. v. Industrial Accident Commission

SHINN, Acting P. J. Upon a hearing before the Industrial Accident Commission an award was made, which was confirmed on rehearing, in favor of the widow and daughters of Arthur A. Burleson, who was fatally injured in an explosion while working as a welder in the completion and bringing in of an oil well. The award was against State Compensation Insurance Fund, as insurer of the drilling contractor, Drilling and Exploration Company, and Zurich General Accident Liability Insurance Company, Ltd., insurer of Lloyd Corporation, Ltd., owner and operator of the well, upon findings that the contractor was the general employer and that Lloyd was the special employer of Burleson at the time of the accident. Zurich Company and Lloyd Corporation seek annulment of the award as against the former upon the ground that the evidence before the commission was insufficient to prove that the relationship of employer-employee existed as between Lloyd and Burleson.

The contractor agreed to do certain drilling and repair work upon two oil wells of the operator, was to receive a flat sum for rigging up and taking out its equipment, a stipulated daily rental for the equipment, and its payroll expenses in the work. The arrangement between the companies was one which called for a measure of collaboration in the work. The [7]wells had been drilled two or three years before and D. & B. was working under a contract of reemployment to do repair work on them at the time of the accident. The agreement, which was evidenced by a letter from the contractor to the owner, did not specify the repair work to be done. It does not appear that Lloyd had anything to do with this work, which consisted in part of further drilling, other than to direct D. & E., generally, as to the results to be accomplished. We have referred to the terms of the agreement and the nature of the work undertaken not because they are material to the questions to be decided, but only because they explain the relations between the two companies in the work and the fact that Lloyd had equipment of its own at the wells on which welding was sometimes required and which was entirely separate from the equipment furnished and used by D. & B. Burleson was in the employ of the contractor as a welder at wages of approximately $1.00 per hour; his services were furnished by the contractor to the operator to work upon the latter’s equipment whenever requested, and for the time thus spent the contractor charged the operator $3.00 per hour, which covered Burleson’s services, and a rental charge for the use of the contractor’s truck and welding equipment, which Burleson used in his work.