Lisa Sue King Shaffer

Summary

The court affirmed summary judgment insofar as Acme and Spade Trucking had an independent-contractor relationship and hauling stone was not inherently dangerous on the facts presented. It reversed summary judgment because evidence that Acme knowingly overloaded Spade Trucking’s trucks could invoke the illegal-work exception to the independent-contractor defense, and competing expert testimony created a genuine factual dispute about whether overloading caused defective brakes that contributed to the collision. The case was remanded for further proceedings on those issues.