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Employers are Responsible for Their Employees’ Negligence and Wrongful Acts
If your San Diego or California business has employees, then your company is responsible for the accidents, mistakes, and bad behavior of your employees. The legal origin of this principle is the doctrine of respondeat superior. Here is a quick discussion of the doctrine. A good San Diego corporate lawyer can offer advice and counsel on these issues.
San Diego Corporate Law: What is the Doctrine of Respondeat Superior?
In general, the legal doctrine of respondeat superior provides that an employer is responsible for the negligence and even intentional acts of the employer’s employees. So, for example, if you are running a San Diego floral design business and you tell your employee to deliver certain floral arrangements to a certain customer, and then, while undertaking the delivery, the employee runs a red light, wrecking the delivery truck and causing injury to several other drivers, your business (or you personally if you do not operate in limited liability form like a corporation or LLC!) will be liable for the collision. This is true even if you explicitly instruct your employee to drive safely, not to speed, obey traffic signals, etc. Even though the employee has disobeyed your direct instructions, your business is still liable.
The doctrine of respondeat superior dates back to at least Roman times. In general, the law says that people are held legally accountable only for their own actions. In general, the negligence or bad actions of one person cannot be imputed to another. The doctrine of respondeat superior is an exception and it is imposed for public policy reasons.
In general, courts offer three policy justifications for the doctrine of respondeat superior:
- To prevent recurrence of the negligent or bad conduct
- To give greater assurance of compensation for the victim and
- To ensure that the victim’s losses will be paid for by those who profiting from the activity that gave rise to the injury
See Sumrall v. Modern Alloys, Inc., 10 Cal. App. 5th 961 (Cal. App. 4th Dist. 2017).
San Diego Corporate Law: When and to Whom Does the Doctrine Apply?
For the doctrine of respondeat superior to apply, a victim of an accident or bad behavior must prove the normal elements of negligence: duty, breach, causation, and damages. In addition, the victim must prove that the wrongdoer was an employee and that conduct was committed “within the scope of employment.” Thus, in our example, the San Diego floral design business WOULD be liable via the doctrine of respondeat superior because the driver of the delivery van was an employee and was acting within the scope of his or her employment (and running a red light satisfies the other elements of negligence).
The doctrine of respondeat superior applies to public and private employers. See Cal. Gov. Code, § 815.2(b) which states:
“A public entity is liable for injury proximately caused by an act or omission of an employee of the public entity within the scope of his employment if the act or omission would, apart from this section, have given rise to a cause of action against that employee or his personal representative.”
There are other examples in California statutes: See, for example, Cal. Civ. Code, § 1714.1 (parents are held vicariously liable for the actions of their children); Pub. Util. Code, § 21404 (owners of aircraft are held vicariously liable for the actions of their operators).
Contact San Diego Corporate Law Today
If you would like more information, contact attorney Michael Leonard, Esq., of San Diego Corporate Law. Mr. Leonard can be reached at (858) 483-9200 or via email. Mr. Leonard has been named a “Rising Star” three years running by SuperLawyers.com and “Best of the Bar” by the San Diego Business Journal.
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