Branco Wood Products Inc. Huxford Trust

Branco Wood Products Inc. Huxford Trust

First some needed background: Branco Wood Products is the defendant in this case, it’s a corporation that supplies wood to many large purchasers, such as the Container Corporation of America (CCA), who is the purchaser in this case. Branco has a number of individuals who cut and deliver timber, which then Branco supplies to its purchasers. CCA buys wood from Branco through a ‘ticket system’. The way this system works is that the wood producers cut and deliver to CCA, the amount of wood indicated on the ticket. CCA pays Branco and then Branco pays its contractors.

On this occasion, CCA gave Branco the ticket, requesting a certain amount of wood. Branco gave that ticket to Edward Bell, one of the its contractors who began cutting timber on the property located adjacent to the land owned by CC Huxford Trust who is the plaintiff in this case. Mistakenly, Bell crossed the boundary and cut timber on the Trust’s property. When the Trust heard about this, they informed Branco who told Bell to stop cutting. The Trust then sued Branco claiming that it was liable for the damages caused by Bell’s trespass because Bell was Branco’s employee acting in the scope of his employment. Branco claimed that he was not responsible as Bell was an independent contractor. The trial court however ruled in favor of the Trust and Branco appealed…

The court of appeals said that under the doctrine of “respondeat superior” the employer may be liable for the acts of his employee that are done in the interest of the employers business, if the employee is acting within the scope of his employment. The question however was if Bell was an employee of Branco or not. The court went on to say the employer-employee relationship exists when the employer reserves the right of control over the means and agencies