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Hammock v. United States9/30/2003
zed by Piggly Wiggly and he determined the amount to order by evaluating how sales were going over a period of time. On average, he spent about 20-25 minutes in Piggly Wiggly stocking the baking company's products, pulling stale products, and cleaning up the display. He returned stale products to the baking company. The South Carolina Supreme Court observed that although plaintiff's "stocking and cleaning of the display may have incidentally benefitted Piggly Wiggly, these activities related only to the sale of vendor's goods and were insubstantial in the context of Piggly Wiggly's general business." Id. at 763. The court concluded that the relationship between the baking company and Piggly Wiggly remained one of vendor/vendee, not hirer/independent contractor. Id.
C. The second certified question.
For AAFES to be deemed the "statutory employer" of Southern Sales, the 85 O.S. § 11 statutorily prescribed independent contractor relationship must exist. A vendor of goods does not qualify as an independent contractor of the vendee it supplies within the meaning of § 11. Because the relationship between Southern Sales and AAFES remained one of vendor/vendee despite the services performed by Hammock, it is not necessary for us to answer the second certified question.
V. CONCLUSION
A vendor of merchandise does not qualify as an independent contractor for the vendee it supplies, within the meaning of 85 O.S. § 11, such that a retailer may potentially assume workers' compensation liability (and quid pro quo tort immunity) as a "principal employer" of the vendor's employees. The relationship between Southern Sales and AAFES remained one of vendor/vendee, despite the services performed by Hammock in delivering, stocking, rotating, inventorying, and promoting Miller beer at the PX. Because Southern Sales is not an independent contractor of AAFES, and because that relationship is a threshold predicate for assessing AAFES' status as a principal employer under § 11, we need not answer the second certified question.
ALL JUSTICES CONCUR.
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