Source: https://encyclopedia.lexroll.com/encyclopedia/respondeat-superior/
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 00:55:38+00:00

Document:
Torts. In the law of torts, the doctrine of respondeat superior provides that an employer/principal is vicariously liable for the wrongful acts of his employee/agent committed within the scope of the employment/agency.
Unless required by or under the authority of law to employ that particular agent, a principal is responsible to third persons for the negligence of his agent in the transaction of the business of the agency, including wrongful acts committed by such agent in and as a part of the transaction of such business, and for his willful omission to fulfill the obligations of the principal.
Under the rule of respondeat superior, as ordinarily understood, the master is held liable for the torts of his servants committed within the course of their employment. In the typical case the neglect is only that of the servant; the master is himself without fault. But because the servant is engaged in the master’s work and is doing it in place of, or for, the master, the act of the servant is regarded as the act of the master. Responsibility devolves up through the relationship to the master and the question of proximate cause of the injury relates only to the act (or neglect) of the servant.
The justice of holding the principal responsible even though he may be innocent of any wrongdoing himself, is apparent when we consider that the principal is in a position to investigate and secure scrupulous agents, and if advisable, to bond them against the possibility of loss to those who are in no position to protect themselves.
[T]he doctrine of respondeat superior applies only where the relation of master and servant is shown to exist between the wrongdoer and the person sought to be charged with the result of the wrong, at the time and in respect to the very transaction out of which the injury arises.
It is well-established that the most important factor in determining whether an individual is an employee or an independent contractor is the right to control the manner and means of accomplishing the result desired.
Hiroshima v. Pacific Gas Elec. Co., 18 Cal.App.2d 24 [63 P.2d 340], held that the defendant’s employee was acting in the course of his employment where, while in the act of writing a receipt for a check given by the plaintiff in payment of a bill for electricity, he began a quarrel with the plaintiff and immediately followed it up by an assault on the plaintiff. In that case the court said that acting within the general scope of his employment means while on duty. Hiroshima has been quoted or referred to with approval in the cases set out in the margin.
In Carr v. Wm. C. Crowell Co., 28 Cal.2d 652 [171 P.2d 5], an employee of a general contractor threw a hammer at an employee of a subcontractor, striking him on the head and seriously injuring him. He sued the general contractor and his employee. The trial court granted a motion for a directed verdict as to the general contractor. The plaintiff appealed. On appeal the general contractor contended that his employee was not acting in the course of his employment when he injured the plaintiff, on the ground that the throwing of the hammer did not further the employer’s interests as an employer and that his employee could not have intended by his conduct to further such interests. Reversing, the court declared (p. 654): “It is sufficient, however, if the injury resulted from a dispute arising out of the employment. Under the provisions of section 2338 of the Civil Code a principal is liable for `wrongful acts’ of his agent committed `in and as a part of’ the principal’s business. `It is not necessary that the assault should have been made “as a means, or for the purpose of performing the work he (the employee) was employed to do.”‘ . . . The employer’s responsibility for the tortious conduct of his employee `extends far beyond his actual or possible control over the conduct of the servant. It rests on the broader ground that every man who prefers to manage his affairs through others, remains bound to so manage them that third persons are not injured by any breach of legal duty on the part of such others’ while acting in the scope of their employment. [Citations.] Such injuries are one of the risks of the enterprise. [Citations.] In the present case, defendant’s enterprise required an association of employees with third parties, attended by the risk that someone might be injured. `The risk of such associations and conditions were risks of the employment.’ [Citation.] Such associations `include the faults and derelictions of human beings as well as their virtues and obediences. Men do not discard their personal qualities when they go to work. Into the job they carry their intelligence, skill, habits of care and rectitude. Just as inevitably they take along also their tendencies to carelessness and camaraderie, as well as emotional makeup. In bringing men together, work brings these qualities together, causes friction between them, creates occasions for lapses into carelessness, and for fun-making and emotional flareup. Work could not go on if men became automatons repressed in every natural expression. . . . These expressions of human nature are incidents inseparable from working together. They involve risks of injury and these risks are inherent in the working environment.’” In support of the last statement the court cited among other cases, Hartford Acc. Indem. Co. v. Cardillo, 112 F.2d 11, 15 [72 App. D.C. 52], a case involving an issue under the Longshoremen’s Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, and Pacific Emp. Ins. Co. v Industrial Acc. Com., 26 Cal.2d 286, 291 [158 P.2d 9, 159 A.L.R. 313], a case which arose under the Workmen’s Compensation Law.
In State Comp. Ins. Fund v. Industrial Acc. Com., 38 Cal.2d 659 [242 P.2d 311], an employee, who was the aggressor, was injured in a fight with his foreman while they were at work. The court stated (p. 661), “There is no doubt that the injury occurred in the course of the employment, for that has reference ordinarily to time and place. Hull [the aggressor] has satisfied both aspects,” and cited with approval and quoted at length fro Carr v. Wm. C. Crowell Co., supra, 28 Cal.2d 652, and cite Fields v. Sanders, supra, 29 Cal.2d 834, with approval.
[168 P.2d 203]; bartender assaulted a customer while ejecting him, Gardner v. Industrial Acc. Com., 73 Cal.App.2d 361 [166 P.2d 362]; after checking out from his work, he fell when he turned away from the window in picking up a government bond purchased by means of a wagewithholding plan, Bethlehem Steel Co. v. Industrial Acc. Com., 70 Cal.App.2d 382 [161 P.2d 59]; domestic servant injured herself when she fell from a stool in the process of sewing a hem on her dress, Employers’ etc. Corp. v. Industrial Acc. Com.,37 Cal.App.2d 567 [99 P.2d 1089]; drove a prospective customer to see some property and stopped for lunch after prescribed hours, Griffin v Industrial Acc. Com., 19 Cal.App.2d 727 [66 P.2d 176]; after lighting a cigarette, dropped a match on spilled gasoline Torosian v. Industrial Acc. Com., 11 Cal.App.2d 204 [53 P.2d 384]; went to obtain water to revive a fellow employee who had fainted, County of Los Angeles v. Industrial Acc. Com., 89 Cal.App. 736 [265 P. 362]; going to another part of employer’s premises to visit a fellow worker, Twin Peaks Canning Co.v Industrial Com., 57 Utah 589 [196 P. 853, 20 A.L.R. 872].

References: v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v.