Opinion ID: 1602788
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Is the VFW liable because Triplett was an employee?

Text: May erroneously relies on several cases and insists that the VFW must be liable because Triplett was an employee, and he may have been at the benefit to perform his job. May asserts that because Triplett had cleaned up the hall on prior occasions on the night after an event that he may have come to do the same on this night. All of the evidence indicates otherwise. Triplett testified that he never cleaned up the dance hall at night immediately after a dance, but he did so the following morning. His other testimony revealed that he was not on call to clean up the hall on that night. Moreover, he never really had to clean up the area after a group had used the facilities because [e]verybody always cleaned up after themselves. Moreover, even if Triplett was present to clean up the area, it does not follow the VFW would be liable. In Odier v. Sumrall, 353 So.2d 1370, 1372 (Miss. 1978), this Court discussed the liability of an employer for his employee's actions: It is of course established that the master is responsible for the torts of his servant only when they are committed within the scope of his employment. The test used in determining whether an employee's tortious act is within the scope of his employment is whether it was done in the course of and as a means to the accomplishment of the purposes of the employment and therefore in furtherance of the master's business ... This Court again elaborated on these points in Seedkem South, Inc. v. Lee, stating that: [t]he test of the employer's liability for the act of an employee who departs from the employer's business for purposes of his own is whether he was engaged in his employer's business at the time of the accident, and not whether he purposed [sic] to resume it. The employee is, so long as he is engaged in affairs of his own or in pursuing some purpose unrelated to his master's business, acting as much outside the scope of his employment as he would be were his working day ended, or his task completed, and thus his employer is relieved from liability for the consequence of any tortious conduct committed by the employee during that period, however short it may be... . 391 So.2d 990, 995 (Miss. 1980) (citation omitted) (emphasis in original). Obviously, Triplett's fight with an adversary from years ago was not within the scope of his employment as a janitor. There is nothing whatsoever to suggest that his altercation with May was in anyway in furtherance of VFW's business. As the VFW asserts in its brief, Triplett's presence at the V.F.W. hall on the night of the altercation was no different than that of the `bag boy' at the local Kroger who goes back to the grocery store after working hours to buy groceries and ends up in a fight with another customer in the frozen food section.