Marley v. Orval P. Johnson & Co.

— It is necessary to set out a brief statement of the facts disclosed by the evidence upon which the determination of the important issue of this case rests.

Orval P. Johnson, the appellant, was the sole proprietor of the business, operated under the trade name of “Orval P. Johnson & Company,” engaged in selling coal, sand, cement, and the manufacture and sale of cement blocks, and in addition engaged in cement work as a contractor in Fairfield, Iowa.

In the summer of 1930 Johnson had a contract to dig a trench and lay therein a concrete base for a stone coping to be placed around a burial lot,…