California Employment Commission v. Bates

EDMONDS, J. -- California Employment Commission, formerly Unemployment Reserves Commission, which administers the Unemployment Insurance Act (Stats. 1935, Chap. 352, p. 1226, as amended; Deerings Gen. Laws, 1935 Supp., Act 8780d, as amended), sued for contributions assertedly payable upon the amounts earned by the carriers of the Pasadena Independent from 1936 to 1940. The trial court found that E. D. Bates and F. F. Runyon, the owners and publishers of the newspaper, were not employers within the meaning of the statute and that the carriers were independent contractors. The commission has appealed from the judgment rendered against it on these findings and the question presented for decision is substantially the same as that determined in California Employment Com. v. Los Angeles Down Town Shopping News Corp., ante, p. 421 [150 P.2d 186].