SHEPPARD v. HALL

SHEPPARD v. HALL
1955 OK 100
282 P.2d 214
Case Number: 36317
Decided: 04/06/1955
Supreme Court of Oklahoma

CHARLES SHEPPARD, PLAINTIFF IN ERROR,

v.

CURTIS HALL AND ERNEST BARTLETT, DEFENDANTS IN ERROR.

Syllabus

¶0 1. One who undertakes to drive an automobile from Arkansas to California for twenty-five dollars and is to pay for gas and oil used on the trip is the agent, servant or employee of the owner of the automobile in the absence of evidence showing that he is an independent contractor.

2. In determining whether the driver is the servant of the owner or an independent contractor all of the facts and circumstances are to be considered and the usual test is the owner's right to control the details and manner in which the employment is carried on and not merely the power to control the result and where the right to control exists, the driver is the owner's servant even though the power is not exercised.

[282 P.2d 215]

Appeal from the District Court of Custer County; W.P. Keen, Judge.

Action by Curtis Hall against Ernest Bartlett and Charles Sheppard for damage to automobile. Judgment for the plaintiff against defendant Sheppard and for the defendant Bartlett. Sheppard appeals. Affirmed.

Pierce, Mock & Duncan and James W. Shepherd, Jr., Oklahoma City, for plaintiff in error.

Meacham, Meacham, Meacham & Meacham, Clinton, for defendant in error, Curtis Hall.

HALLEY, J.

¶1 This appeal involves the identical question of fact and law involved in Sheppard v. Hall, Okl.,

¶2 Judgment affirmed.

¶3 JOHNSON, C.J., WILLIAMS, V.C.J., and CORN, DAVISON, BLACKBIRD and JACKSON, JJ., concur.