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Cook v. Morrison3/3/1992
2d 621, 623 (1989) (whether working party is independent contractor or employee is question of law for court where evidence is susceptible of only one Conclusion).
First, the defendant had agreed to pay Morrison $3.40 per foot for a specific task, a factor indicative of contractorship. Hayes, 224 N.C. at 16, 29 S.E.2d at 140 (specific piece of work upon quantitative basis indicates contractorship). Second, Morrison supplied the equipment and ordered the supplies used on the job site, factors indicative of contractorship. 1C A. Larson, The Law of Workmen's Compensation § 44.34(a) (1991) [hereinafter 1C Larson]. Third, although the defendant was not in the business of installing sewer systems, Morrison was engaged in this type of business, Morrison Company, and these factors indicate contractorship. Hayes, 224 N.C. at 16, 29 S.E.2d at 140; Restatement (Second) of Agency § 220(2)(b), (h) (1957). Fourth, although the defendant volunteered his son and a friend to the job site, Morrison hired his own employees for the job. "The freedom to employ such assistants as the . . . [working party] may think proper indicates contractorship." Youngblood, 321 N.C. at 384, 364 S.E.2d at 438. Fifth, Morrison had full control over his employees, a factor indicative of contractorship. Hayes, 224 N.C. at 16, 29 S.E.2d at 140. Sixth, Morrison decided when his employees would work on the defendant's project and when they would work elsewhere, a factor indicative of contractorship. Youngblood, 321 N.C. at 385, 364 S.E.2d at 438. Finally, Morrison believed that he was not the defendant's employee, a factor indicative of contractorship. Restatement (Second) of Agency § 220(2)(i). All of the factors implicated by the evidence suggest that Morrison was an independent contractor, not an employee. That the defendant occasionally gave instructions and made suggestions to Morrison concerning engineering requirements set out in the blueprints for the sewer system does not create an employer-employee relationship. As Professor Larson explains:
An owner, who wants to get work done without becoming an employer, is entitled to as much control of the details of the work as is necessary to ensure that he gets the end result from the contractor that he bargained for. In other words, there may be a control of the quality or description of the work itself, as distinguished from control of the person doing it, without going beyond the independent contractor relation.
1C Larson, supra, § 44.21. The evidence produced at the summary judgment hearing does not show that the defendant retained any right to control and direct the manner in which Morrison executed the details of his task. To the contrary, the evidence shows that
Morrison was an independent contractor. Accordingly, summary judgment for the defendant on this cause of action was proper.
II
Owner-Invitee
The plaintiff argues that summary judgment on her claim against the defendant as a landowner was improper because genuine issues of material fact exist as to whether the defendant breached his duty of care to Cook, an invitee.
While working on the defendant's land as an employee of an independent contractor, Cook was an invitee of the defendant. Spivet v. Babcock & Wilcox Co., 264 N.C. 387, 388, 141 S.E.2d 808, 810 (1965). The defendant therefore owed Cook the duty "to exercise ordinary care to keep the premises in a reasonably safe
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