Thompson v. Club Group Ltd.

A jury question remained as to whether the negligent driver was acting within the scope of his employment when plaintiff was injured.

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There are two issues presented on appeal. The first is the question of whether at the time of a collision the negligent driver was acting as an employee or independent contractor for any or all of the three corporate defendants. The second issue is whether the driver’s actions as an employee were within the course and scope of his employment. The evidence showed that although it was his day off from his regular employer, at the time of the collision the driver was acting at his employer’s behest in picking up and delivering certain documents to the employer and that the employer controlled his actions in this regard. The evidence was undisputed that the other two defendants did not employ the driver nor control his actions during such document deliveries and thus at most had only an independent contractor relationship with him at the time of the collision. Thus, we reverse that portion of the judgment granting summary judgment in favor of the regular corporate employer and affirm the remainder of the judgment granting summary judgment to the other two defendant corporations.

In 1989 Club Group, Ltd. hired James Gray as a bellman for a resort it operated on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Gray’s responsibilities included greeting and assisting guests and running various errands, including the distribution of office mail between the resort and Club Group’s general administrative office. Beyond operating a resort, Club Group also provided administrative functions such as payroll and accounting for two affiliated entities-CGL of Savannah, Inc., and Low Country Golf Investors, Inc., each operating a golf course in Savannah and Hardeeville respectively. CGL and Low Country would regularly deliver documents to Club Group so Club Group could perform the accounting and payroll services, which deliveries the manager of the Savannah golf course performed for a period of time.

Thompson v. Club Group Ltd.

A jury question remained as to whether the negligent driver was acting within the scope of his employment when plaintiff was injured.

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