Callahan Const. Co. v. Rayburn

Citations

• 110 Miss. 107
• 69 So. 669

Syllabus

<p>'1. Master and Servant. Independent contractors. Who are. Trial verdict. Sufficiency.</p> <p>' Where a railroad1 company entered into a contract with a contractor for the execution and removal of dirt from one part of its right of way to another and it was provided in the contract that the railroad company’s trains should have preference over ■ those of the contractor, that the contractor’s train crew should ■■’be such as were satisfactory to the railroad company’s superintendent and required to pass such examination as he might prescribe, that any who were unsatisfactory, might be discharged, and that the contract should not be sublet save with-the consent of the railroad company’s chief engineer, and where the chief- engineer consented to the subletting of part of the contract, and plaintiff, an employee of the-railroad company, was directed to report to the contractor for service on, one of his trains, and while so engaged, was injured through the negligence of a fireman employed by the subcontractor over whom the principal contractor exercised no control. In such case the contractor was not liable for his injuries, the negligent servant being that of an independent contractor.</p> <p>2. Same.</p> <p>An independent contractor is one who renders service in the course of an occupation, representing the will of his employer only as to the result of his work, and not as to the means by which it is accomplished.</p> <p>3. Master and Servant. Independent contractor. Who are.</p> <p>As the railroad company had supervision over the employees of the subcontractor, such contractor was not as to it an independent contractor, and plaintiff could recover from the railroad company.</p> <p>4. Trial. Verdict. Sufficiency.</p> <p>In a suit against two defendants, a verdict that “we the jury, find for the plaintiff and assess his damages at five hundred dollars,” was sufficiently definite.</p>