Lemmerman v. A.T. Williams Oil Co.

Eight-year-old Shane Tucker (plaintiff), who frequently accompanied his mother to her cashier job at a convenience store owned by A.T. Williams (defendant) and was paid about a dollar for odd jobs by the store manager, slipped and injured his hand on the store's sidewalk while performing such work. Shane and his mother sued A.T. Williams for negligence; the company moved to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, arguing Shane was actually its employee under the Workers' Compensation Act (limiting him to a workers' comp claim), even though the manager never had Shane fill out a formal application, never reported him for withholding or workers' comp purposes, and paid him out of pocket rather than from the register like regular employees. The trial court and court of appeals agreed Shane was an employee and dismissed the suit.