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Vicarious Liability & Company Cars: Minimal vs. Substantial Deviation


Halliburton Energy Servs., Inc. v. Dept. of Transp. - Fifth District Court of Appeal, CA


Facts: Halliburton provided Troy Martinez with a company vehicle that he was to use in the course of his employment.  After Martinez had completed work one day, he drove to Bakersfield to purchase a car for his wife.  Although Martinez had traveled to Bakersfield in the past for work, this trip was not for any work related purpose.  After leaving the dealership, Martinez hit a car, injuring six of the plaintiffs in this suit.  The plaintiffs sued Halliburton, Martinez, and others.

The trial court granted Halliburton's motion for summary judgment holding Halliburton could not be held to be vicariously liable for plaintiffs' injuries.  The Court of Appeal affirmed.

Holding: The Court held that even though Martinez was driving a company vehicle when the accident occurred and had traveled to Bakersfield previously for work, the trip was "entirely personal" and was not undertaken for the benefit of Halliburton.  Parmount to the Court's holding was the fact that Martinez was not performing services or running any errands for Halliburton on this particular trip, nor was his supervisor aware of the trip until after the accident occurred.  Consequently, Halliburton could not have assumed the risk of a vehicular accident during Martinez's trip, nor was such a risk of an accident inherent in, typical of, or broadly incidental to Halliburton's enterprise.

The Court relied on a prior case, Moradi v. Marsh USA, Inc., to differentiate its holding in the present case.  In Moradi, an employee was commuting home from work in her personal vehicle and made a stop for yogurt during which she hit a motorcyclist.  That court held that the employee was acting within the scope of her employment as she often had to use her personal vehicle for company business and her employer derived a benefit from that.  Consequently, that court held that the employee only made a "minimal deviation" from her commute on her way home from work, thus there was sufficient basis to hold the employer vicariously liable for the employee's purported negligent acts.  However, when an employee deviates substantially from his normal commute and the employer derives no incidental benefit, as in the present case, the employer cannot be vicariously liable for the damages caused by its employee.  Therefore, based upon these facts, Halliburton could not be held vicariously liable for the damages caused by its employee.

Judgment: The Fifth District Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Halliburton.

Majority Opinion Judge:  Judge Hill

Date:  October 1, 2013

Opinion:  http://caselaw.findlaw.com/ca-court-of-appeal/1645908.html

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