Opinion ID: 6322355
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Negligent Hiring and Negligent Retention

Text: The Paunas next argue that the district court erred in granting summary judgment in Swift’s favor on their claims of negligent hiring and negligent retention. 4 Wyoming courts have adopted the tort of negligent hiring and negligent retention as set forth in § 213 of the Second Restatement of Agency. See Cranston v. Weston Cnty. Weed & Pest Bd., 826 P.2d 251, 258 (Wyo. 1992). To establish a claim for negligent hiring or negligent retention, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant owed a duty of reasonable care to the plaintiff and that the plaintiff’s injuries were foreseeable. Connes v. Molalla Trans. Sys., Inc., 831 P.2d 1316, 1320 (Colo. 1992); see Carabajal v. City of Cheyenne, 847 F.3d 1203, 1214 n.4 (10th Cir. 2017) (“Because Colorado and Wyoming both premise the tort of negligent hiring on the Restatement (Second) of Agency § 213, we find Colorado law instructive.”). The district court held that Mr. Brownell’s criminal history was not sufficient to put Swift on notice that he posed a danger to the public, and we agree. Mr. Brownell’s two convictions were misdemeanors for shooting a neighbor’s dog 4 The district court also granted summary judgment to Swift on the Paunas’ negligent supervision claim, but the Paunas have not pursued that claim on appeal. 7 Appellate Case: 21-8009 Document: 010110655734 Date Filed: 03/11/2022 Page: 8 with a BB gun, and for disorderly conduct involving Mr. Brownell drunkenly showing belligerence to an arresting officer. Swift’s duty to the public required it to determine whether Mr. Brownell would safely transport freight. See Connes, 817 P.2d at 571 (“[W]hether harm from hiring a person with a criminal record is foreseeable necessarily depends on whether the nature of the employment and the type of contact the employee has with the public . . . is such that a prudent person would have anticipated that harm would have occurred as a result of the employment.”). The convictions, which occurred more than five years before Mr. Brownell applied to Swift, bore no relationship to the job of transporting freight.