Shell Oil Company v. Jeffrey Stephen Leftwich; Shell Oil Company v. Linda Susan Garnett

Summary

The Supreme Court of Virginia reversed Industrial Commission awards that had treated two employees of an independent service-station dealer as Shell's statutory employees under Code § 65.1-29. Applying the Larson test it had followed in prior decisions, the court held that retailing gasoline to the public, though indispensable to Shell's business, was not an activity Shell normally carried on through its own employees; Shell wholesaled to independent dealers like Robinson, who leased the station, controlled pricing and personnel, and alone dealt with consumers. Shell was therefore not a statutory employer, the accident did not arise out of and in the course of performing Shell's work, and the awards were reversed and the applications dismissed. No separate opinions were filed.