Duncan v. Powers Imports

OPINION

WATT, Justice.

The issue here is whether Claimant, James Randall Duncan, was an employee of Respondent, Powers Imports, or an independent contractor. Following a hearing to determine its jurisdiction, the trial court found that Duncan was an independent contractor. Consequently, the trial court held that it lacked jurisdiction to award workers’ compensation benefits to Duncan. The Court of Appeals reversed on the ground that Duncan was Powers’s employee.

Whether a claimant seeHng workers’ compensation benefits is an employee or an independent contractor is a jurisdictional fact, which we…