Filing Lawsuits Against Corporations

Often when an auto accident involves a business vehicle, there are two specific types of claim that should be alleged against the business–the first is that the business is liable simply by virtue of employing the negligent driver; the second is that the business is liable because it did something incorrectly.

No. 1: Respondeat Superior

Respondeat superior is Latin for “let the master answer.” Lawyers frequently use Latin, mostly because that’s how lawyers in ages past were trained, and as a profession we are hard-pressed to put things in the regular, understandable English. What it means is that the employer is going to be responsible for the negligence of his employee if the injury occurred in the normal scope of employment. There are many important exceptions to this, but in general, if a UPS driver falls asleep at the wheel and rear-ends another car, UPS is going to be responsible for that accident.

No. 2: Employer Negligence

The other type of claim that can be brought for an auto accident is some type of negligence of the employer. Here, the claim is that the employer did something wrong to cause the accident. Some examples include:

1. Negligent hiring, retention, supervision or training: if the employer failed to do a background check that would have revealed excessive speeding tickets, road rage and a vehicular manslaughter conviction, the employer probably should not have hired that employee. Likewise, the employer must train and supervise their employees, and if they cannot act in accordance with the law, they should be fired.
2. Failure to create or enforce policies and procedures: particularly in this age of distracted driving, it could be argued that an employer must have a company-wide policy on distracted driving. Are phones allowed in the car? What about hands-free phones (which some studies suggest is just as dangerous).

In many ways, the corporate negligence is more important than the employee negligence. When an employee makes a mistake, it can often be chalked up to “just a mistake.” When a corporation makes a mistake, however, it can have long-lasting and foreseeable consequences, including the deaths of others. Those mistakes are so much more preventable, with a little bit of planning.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a business-related automobile accident, contact our personal injury lawyers at 443.850.4426, or send us a confidential message online.