B. P. Schulberg Production, Ltd. v. California Employment Commission

WHITE, J. This appeal comes before us on the judgment roll alone and was taken from a judgment discharging an alternative writ of mandate and denying a peremptory writ. By the writ in question, petitioner and appellant herein sought to review a decision of the California Employment Commission (predecessor of the California Employment Stabilization Commission), holding certain motion picture artists to be in the “employment” of petitioner and appellant and that the latter was therefore not entitled to refund of contributions it made for the year 1938 pursuant to the Unemployment Insurance Act (chap. 352, Stats. 1935, as amended; Deering’s Gen. Laws, Act 8780d.)

For purposes of convenience, petitioner and appellant, B. P. Schulberg Productions, Ltd., will hereinafter be referred to as “appellant,” while the defendants and respondents, California Employment Commission, will be designated as “respondent.”

As the present appeal is upon the judgment roll alone, this court is confined to the consideration of the question of whether the judgment is supported by the findings; and whether upon the findings made another and- different- judgment should have been entered (Goldberg v. List, 11 Cal.2d 389 [79 P.2d 1087, 116 A.L.R. 900]; Merron v. Title Guarantee & Trust Co., 45 Cal.App.2d 60 [113 P.2d 481]). In other words, we are restricted to a consideration of whether reversible error appears upon the face of such record.

Reference to the judgment roll indicates that the facts, as disclosed therein, are not in dispute. Appellant’s business was that of engaging artists under contract to it and then selling the services of such artists to producing motion picture studios. The artists who were under contract to appellant during the year 1937 and whose status .is in question for the period of time during which their services were leased or loaned to other companies by appellant were Edward Arnold, LaVerne W. Brown and Leon Shamroy. Under the terms of their contracts with appellant, these artists were paid a stipulated wage per week regardless of whether or not they were [833]actively performing services for appellant during such week or were loaned to other companies. Whenever the services of an artist under contract to appellant were loaned to another company, appellant received from such producing studio for whom the artist was working an agreed amount of money and the artist received nothing from such producing company for the services he was giving to it. At no time did the artists contract with the producing companies who borrowed their services from and paid appellant therefor. The only remuneration received by the artist was that paid him by appellant pursuant to the terms of its contract with such artist. All negotiations for the use of the services of the artist by the borrowing companies were carried on by appellant with such borrowing companies. Under its contract with the artists, appellant had the right to and did instruct the former when to start performing services for the borrowing companies and when such services should terminate. While performing services for a borrowing company, the artists were subject to the immediate control of the directors who were casting the picture for such borrowing company. It is conceded by appellant that during the times in which the artists were not loaned to other companies they were in the “employment” of appellant.