Empire Courier Service Essay

For this essay, we will review the facts of a potential tort case involving Empire Courier Service’s employee, Dave and the injured person, Victor. This is a case involving agencies and their liability to third parties. Dave, a driver for Empire Courier Service is the agent and currently in an employer-employee agency (Kubasek, Brown, Herron, Dhooge, & Barkacs, 2016, p. 416). As an employee, Dave is known as a “hot head” and previously had a fight while employed in the recent past by a different company. This previous fight was bad enough that charges were brought against Dave, a fact Empire Courier Service never ascertained. As the scenario states, Dave is between deliveries in the company vehicle taking a lunch break. While leaving

The problem for Victor would be to show that Empire Courier Services bears this blame. Only if Dave’s actions happened within the scope of employment activities have courts considered this a respondeat superior (“An Employer's Liability,” n.d.). This key aspect of the case is; was Dave the agent of Empire Courier Services when these injuries happened? Victor needs to be ready to show that Dave was acting as the employee proving that Dave was within time and space and specific assignment tests that are considered employment. Victor will also need to prove Dave’s behaviors line up with the training and guidance Empire Courier Services uses to guide its employees. These will be difficult tests for Victor to answer. The facts show the accident happened during Dave’s lunch break, while he was using the company vehicle to transport him on a strictly personal errand; well out of the way of that day's assigned route. Certainly, Empire Courier Services never authorizes employees to punch people. The legal term for this kind of use of the company car by Dave is called; frolic, which is descriptive of when an employee takes action on their own, not at the direction of an employer (“An Employer's Liability,” n.d.). Victor will have a very difficult case indeed to prove Dave’s conduct was condoned by Empire Courier

Although Empire Courier Services did not route Dave to drive to Big Burrito Bistro, the scene of the accident or to punch Victor were there other areas of liability for Empire Courier Services? Victor could consider bringing a suit based on the principles of respondeat superior. Respondeat superior is where the principle is responsible for specific negligent actions the employer knew or should have known could happen (Respondeat, n.d.). By adding a third party to implicate, it provides another opportunity for an injured party to collect damages (Respondeat, n.d.). Once Victor finds out that Dave was found guilty and fired by a previous employer for the intentional tortious action of getting into a fight he could build a case based on Empire Courier Services not doing a background check or in some way ensuring Dave would not repeat fighting with people in the future (Respondeat, n.d.). Empire Courier Services is liable for hiring a person like Dave with a known tendency to fight, this has a legal basis as Negligent hiring or retention liability (“An Employer's Liability,” n.d.). As the principle, Empire Courier Services is negligent when considering a case based on the legal principle of respondeat