Verified Document

Negligence And Respondeat Superior: Should Employers Be Essay

Negligence and Respondeat Superior: Should Employers be Held Responsible for Employee Negligence? Negligence

"A person has acted negligently if he or she has departed from the conduct expected of a reasonably prudent person acting under similar circumstances" (West, 2008). To establish a claim of negligence, a plaintiff has to establish four elements: duty of care, breach of duty, factual causation, and damages (Berry, Sahradnik, Kotzas, & Benson, 2013). The duty of care element means that, even if a person failed to act with reasonable care, he cannot be held liable in a negligence action unless he owed a duty to the plaintiff. However, a person is generally "under a duty to all persons at all times to exercise reasonable care for their physical safety and the safety of their property" (West, 2008). The breach of duty requires that the person fail to act as a reasonable person would have in that same situation. In some states and some circumstances, how a reasonable person would act is defined by statute or informed by other statutes. Factual causation means that the injury or damage must have been the result of...

The final element in a negligence case is establishing that there were damages, or some harm suffered as a result of the defendant's negligence.
Respondeat Superior

One of the more interesting concepts in negligence law is the concept of respondeat superior in which an employer can be held liable for negligent actions of the employee, even though the employer did not cause the damages in question. Generally, respondeat superior refers to the idea that "an employer or principal legally responsible for the wrongful acts of an employee or agent, if such acts occur within the scope of the employment or agency" (Legal Information Institute, 2010). This doctrine is critical for employers because it makes them responsible for some employee bad acts. Therefore, employers should use greater discretion in the hiring process and, if an employee fails to exercise reasonable care should remedy that through improved training or workplace disciplinary programs or terminate the employee.

Wilson v. United States

In Wilson v. United States, 989 F. 2d 953 (8th Cir. 1993),…

Sources used in this document:
References

Berry, Sahradnik, Kotzas, & Benson. (2013). The four elements of negligence. Retrieved August 29, 2013 from JD Supra Law News website: http://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/the-four-elements-of-negligence-52408/

Legal Information Institute. (2010). Respondeat superior. Retrieved August 29, 2013 from Cornell University Law School website: http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/respondeat_superior

West's Encyclopedia of American Law. (2008). Negligence. Retrieved August 29, 2013 from The Free Dictionary website: http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/negligence

Wilson v. United States, 989 F. 2d 953 (8th Cir. 1993). Retrieved August 29, 2013 from Open
Jurist website: http://openjurist.org/989/f2d/953
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Issues About Negligence and Doctrine of Respondeat Superior
Words: 723 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

Negligence Claim and the Doctrine of Respondeat Superior The situation at Don and his wife barbeque party is an example of a negligence and product liability case that resulted in significant burns on John's body. While Don was did not know that the can of lighter fluid had several leaks, his actions and their consequences make him liable for negligence. In addition, the lighter fluid maker is liable for the product

Medical Malpractice and Respondeat Superior
Words: 2917 Length: 10 Document Type: Article Review

Mitchell. The left arm of the child had to be amputated because of the unsuccessful vascular operation. According to the court session, there was a question to be answered in relation to the agency theory in determining the role of Dr. Williams in this encounter (Tenn Ct App 1970). The article also focuses on reviewing the case of Edmands v. Chamberlain Memorial Hospital in the context of 1978. The case

Traditional Negligence and Res Ipsa
Words: 1018 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

(Regan & Regan, 2002) All the health care workers are surely part of some form of administration or a unit. Contrastingly, this law will not be applied to private practices because in those cases, only the direct health care worker is considered responsible. This brings us to the idea of shared responsibility of a certain situation. This doctrine can be applied to the administration because at the end of

Healthcare Legal Aspects of Health Care Administration
Words: 1307 Length: 5 Document Type: Research Paper

Healthcare Legal Legal Aspects of Health Care Administration Please answer the question below: Give and support two arguments for and two arguments against Euthanasia. (Note: Pages 430 to 433 in Pozgar's textbook will provide some background on the issue). In modern medical practice the meaning of euthanasia is an action that assists dying in someone who has requested it and countries such as Belgium, where it is a legal practice, require that the person

Flags of Convenience and Mrs.
Words: 2302 Length: 5 Document Type: Research Proposal

"When a court strikes a contract provision for unconscionability it is declaring that provision is so unfair or oppressive that the court will refuse to enforce it." (Gillespie, 2007). The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that, "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to

Employment Discrimination and Globalization
Words: 3901 Length: 10 Document Type: Essay

Employment Discrimination and Globalization Entity type and location. This business start-up, registered as Sexy Shoes for Her, Inc., is a single-member Limited Liability Company taxed as a corporation (IRS, 2011). All stock is held by the principle and by members of the principle's immediate and extended family, such that, even though the firm is not a corporation, its membership resembles that of a closely-held corporation. The organization process has been completed,

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now