King v. Shelby Rural Electric Cooperative Corp.

VANCE, Commissioner.

This is an appeal from a summary judgment dismissing appellant’s claim. It involves the tort liability of Shelby Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation, hereinafter referred to as Shelby, to an employee of its independent contractor, Electricom, Inc.

Shelby owns and operates an electric transmission system. In the operation of its business it became necessary for it to convert a single-phase transmission line to a three-phase line. As this was a major undertaking, Shelby employed Electricom, an independent contractor, rather than use its own employees to do the work.

Electric…