Business Law and Agency
An agent and the agency relationship
An agent is a person that has been hired to play the function or stand in for someone else in dealing with a third party. The person being represented is most times the principal or initiator and the relationship between them is referred to as the agency relationship. An agent holds the role or function of accountability facing the principal to deliver in the best interests of the principal and restrain from following their own interests pre the principal’s.
Liability of Empire Courier Service
Considering the case study provided, an employer-employee relationship exists between Dave and Empire Courier Service as his hirer where Dave owns an explicit power as he understands exactly what the employer requires of him on a daily basis.
Empire Courier Service is liable for Dave's negligence in causing the accident as a result of the principle of respondeat superior which is an example of vicarious liability. Considering an employer-employee relationship exists between Dave and his employer, the company is liable for the negligent actions that are caused by Dave during the term of his employment. The employer will be held liable for Dave’s negligent actions in causing the car accident as this occurred while he was carrying his responsibilities on behalf of his employer, Empire Courier Service (Cornell, 2018). The principal in this case, Empire Courier Service, also has the duty or responsibility of vetting potential candidates before giving them positions of employment. The organization’s actions of failing to carry criminal background checks before hiring employees makes them liable as well to the negligent actions conducted by the employee during the course of their duty. This means that if they had carried out a thorough evaluation of Dave before hiring him, they would have realized that he has had prior criminal charges as a result of a fistfight with one of his former colleagues. Dave is also liable as he knowingly caused the accident resulting in injuries to Victor who was driving the other vehicle. He might have done it knowingly as he knew he was on duty while the accident was happening and that the employer would be held liable for this. The company’s insurance will cover for the damages incurred as a result of the accident caused by Dave.
Dave's intentional tort for punching Victor
In relation to Dave’s intentional tort for punching Victor, Dave would be held liable for this action. An individual is always the one who is primarily liable for their own torts. In this case, Dave is liable for punching Victor and in this case he may be forced to pay Empire Courier Service for the damages that they were made to pay relating to Victor. This would be the case as the management of Empire Courier Service did not authorize any form of wrong conduct by Dave. In addition to this, Dave is liable for punching Victor as he intentionally wanted to cause harm to Victor. The action of punching Victor is outside the scope of what is expected of an employee while carrying out deliveries and so it will be easier for the employer not to be held liable for Dave’s action of punching Victor (Larson, 2017).
Empire Courier Service's potential liability
However, to a small extent, it can also be argued that Empire Courier Service should also be held liable for Dave’s wrongful conduct evidenced in punching Victor. This is because, as aforementioned, they neglected their responsibility of carrying out background checks of their employees from which they would have realized that Dave has had previous cases of violent behavior.
References
Cornell Law School. (n.d.). Respondeat Superior. Retrieved January 7, 2018, from https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/respondeat_superior
Larson, A. (2017, September 6). Principals, Agents and Tort Liability. Retrieved January 7, 2018, from https://www.expertlaw.com/library/personal_injury/agency.html
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