Mrs. Martha Mae Leslie v. Cities Service Refining Corpo Ration

Leslie, an employee of Born Construction Company, an independent contractor, was killed when the 90-foot stack being raised for Cities Service Oil Corporation fell with a violent crash to the ground. The stack was being installed on a heater or furnace designed to be, and actually used as, a pre-heater and part of a catalytic cracking unit in the large refinery of Cities Service near Lake Charles,. Louisiana.

The threshold question was, of course, the frequent one under Section 6 of the Louisiana Compensation Act 1 of whether the work of constructing a furnace, installing and raising the stack…