Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/524bv.pdf
Page Number: 840

524US2

Unit: U100

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Cite as: 524 U. S. 775 (1998)

795

Opinion of the Court

the Second Circuit charged the Government with vicarious
liability for the depredation of a drunken sailor returning to
his ship after a night’s carouse, who inexplicably opened
valves that ﬂooded a drydock, damaging both the drydock
and the ship.
Judge Friendly acknowledged that the sailor’s
conduct was not remotely motivated by a purpose to serve
his employer, but relied on the “deeply rooted sentiment that
a business enterprise cannot justly disclaim responsibility for
accidents which may fairly be said to be characteristic of its
activities,” and imposed vicarious liability on the ground that
the sailor’s conduct “was not so ‘unforeseeable’ as to make it
unfair to charge the Government with responsibility.”
Id.,
at 171. Other examples of an expansive sense of scope of
employment are readily found, see, e. g., Leonbruno v. Cham-
plain Silk Mills, 229 N. Y. 470, 128 N. E. 711 (1920) (opinion
of Cardozo, J.) (employer was liable under worker’s compen-
sation statute for eye injury sustained when employee threw
an apple at another; the accident arose “in the course of em-
ployment” because such horseplay should be expected); Carr
v. Wm. C. Crowell Co., 28 Cal. 2d 652, 171 P. 2d 5 (1946)
(employer liable for actions of carpenter who attacked a co-
employee with a hammer). Courts, in fact, have treated
scope of employment generously enough to include sexual
assaults. See, e. g., Primeaux v. United States, 102 F. 3d
1458, 1462–1463 (CA8 1996) (federal police ofﬁcer on limited
duty sexually assaulted stranded motorist); Mary M. v. Los
Angeles, 54 Cal. 3d 202, 216–221, 814 P. 2d 1341, 1349–1352
(1991) (en banc) (police ofﬁcer raped motorist after placing
her under arrest); Doe v. Samaritan Counseling Ctr., 791
P. 2d 344, 348–349 (Alaska 1990) (therapist had sexual rela-
tions with patient); Turner v. State, 494 So. 2d 1291, 1296
(La. App. 1986) (National Guard recruiting ofﬁcer committed
sexual battery during sham physical examinations); Lyon v.
Carey, 533 F. 2d 649, 655 (CADC 1976) (furniture delivery-
man raped recipient of furniture); Samuels v. Southern Bap-
tist Hospital, 594 So. 2d 571, 574 (La. App. 1992) (nursing