Metropolitan C. Ins. Co. v. Indus. Acc. Com.

This cause is before us upon the petition of the above-named company to review an award made by the Industrial Accident Commission in favor of the respondent Dewey Littlejohn. The question involved in this proceeding is whether the respondent Dewey Littlejohn was an employee or an independent contractor at the time he sustained the injuries resulting in the award just mentioned. *Page 370 The record shows that the respondent Dewey Littlejohn and William Joseph Lanum were employees of the Pacific Gas Electric Company and were at work as such employees at and near an orchard owned and operated by the H.B. Orchard Company, of which company a Japanese by the name of Hatamiya was acting as foreman; that during the time Littlejohn and Lanum were employed in the neighborhood of said ranch, Mr. Hatamiya interviewed them with regard to whether they knew of anyone who understood "topping" trees. It appears that the Orchard Company owned three trees which they desired to have "topped". In the top of these trees there was a growth of mistletoe. At first it was understood that Littlejohn and Lanum were to "top" the trees only to the extent necessary to remove the mistletoe, but after the work…