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Injury of Messenger Raises Legal Issue
Status of a Branch Telegraph Office Debated Over Claim
New York Times, August 14, 1938
A test case under the Workmen's Compensation Law that may vitally
affect the relationship between the Western Union Telegraph Company and
its hundreds of branch office managers in small communities has
resulted from an accident in which a messenger boy was injured here
last Nov. 27.
The issue is whether Clare Lear, who handles Western Union messages
here in Winter from his small store, is an independent contractor or an
official agent of the telegraph company.
If the Compensation Bureau decides Mr. Lear was a representative of the
company, Western Union will be liable for some $200 medical fees to the
parents of Adolph Sanders, 17 years old, the messenger. If Mr. Lear is
held to be an independent contractor, he will have to pay the damages.
Western Union attorneys declare Mr. Lear handles messages in Winter on
commission as a sideline. They pointed out in briefs filed this week
that he hires the messengers and pays them out of his commissions.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Sanders, parents of the messenger, contend through
attorneys that all of Mr. Lear's boys assumed they were protected by
Western Union because they received official uniforms from the company,
had rates regulated by the company on messages, and the company gave
Mr. Lear a sign for his store window advertising the office.
The boy was struck by an automobile while delivering messages.
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