29 Ga. App. 393 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1923
1. Under section 4414 of the Civil Code. (1910) an employer is not liable for the negligence of an independent contractor, unless the employment or tortious acts constitute one of the exceptions stated in that section or in section 4415.
2. Where a'municipality, by contract with a-property owner, obligates itself to “ cause to be moved ” the owner’s dwelling house back to a newly agreed property line, the owner conveying to the city the front part of the lot for the purpose of widening a street, and the city employs an independent contractor to move the house, under an agreement that the latter shall “ furnish all labor, tools, and appliances necessary to complete the work to the satisfaction of the building inspector of the city,” the municipality ordinarily is not responsible for torts committed by the contractor, in the absence of any proof of liability by virtue of the transaction eoming within any of the exceptions provided by section 4415 of the Civil Code. In the instant case the only evidence upon the question as to whose methods and authority the work was executed under was that of the plaintiff’s mother, the owner, who testified, “ I saw Mr. Skinner (the contractor) around there part of the time giving some orders.” The mere fact that the employer may have had an agent who supervised the work for the purpose merely of seeing that it was done in conformity to the contract, without interfering as to the particular method in which it was to be done or the means by which the
Judgment affirmed.