Opinion ID: 2576177
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Nelson's reliance on Cummins's manifestations

Text: The commentary to the Restatement (Second) of Agency states [t]he mere fact that acts are done by one whom the injured party believes to be the defendant's servant is not sufficient to cause the apparent master to be liable. There must be such reliance upon the manifestation as exposes the plaintiff to the negligent conduct. [21] The evidence was sufficient to allow the jury to determine whether Nelson relied on Cummins's manifestations in choosing to have his new engine installed by P & R. [22] Nelson testified that he decided to have a Cummins engine installed in the ALEUT PRINCESS because he liked the performance of the Cummins engine in his other vessel. Nelson had his wife retrieve the Cummins Northwest advertisement, called Cummins Northwest, and was referred by Cummins Northwest to P & R. Nelson testified that he had never heard of P & R before this conversation. If he had known that P & R was not part of Cummins, Nelson testified he would not have had his engine installed there because it is too small of an operation. I've got to work with people that I know will back me if something goes wrong, be able to get me . . . fixed up, get me back out on the grounds, like they said they would. Nelson testified that he chose Cummins [b]ecause they're a big company and they stand by . . . their word. Reasonable persons could permissibly find from the evidence that Nelson believed he was dealing with Cummins during the entire repower transaction. His initial contact was with Cummins Northwest. When the installation was complete and Nelson was looking for a warranty for the work done on the ALEUT PRINCESS, he called Cummins Northwest directly. After the ALEUT PRINCESS was released by P & R, Nelson sent an email directly to Cummins asking for help with the vibration problem. The evidence of Nelson's reliance on Cummins's manifestations was sufficient to present a jury question on this element of apparent authority.