Vicarious liability is a legal theory that imposes liability on a person, usually an employer, for the actions of another person. Vicarious liability can be direct or indirect. Direct vicarious liability occurs when the employer has given an employee the authority to act on behalf of their company, and the employee commits a tortious act in this capacity. Indirect, vicarious liability occurs when the employer provides a dangerous instrumentality to an employee and that instrumentality causes harm to someone else. Amazon has been lately involved in accidents like these. If you have been a victim of such cases, Amazon delivery accident lawyers can help you get your case filed. You could also check out accident attorneys of Monge & Associates, as they can assist you with filing your case if you have been a victim of such incidents.
What Laws Cover Vicarious Liability?
The law is supposed to provide a balance between the interests of the employer and the employee. However, in some cases, the law may be more favorable to one party than another. The laws that cover vicarious liability are economic torts law, vicarious responsibility law, and vicarious liability.
Economic torts law refers to a legal theory that is used when there has been an injury caused by a person who was not acting as an employee or agent of the employer but rather as a member of the general public. Vicarious responsibility law is found in some jurisdictions and means that it is possible to hold someone else liable for an injury caused by their employee if they are found to have failed in their duty of care towards them. Vicarious liability means that someone can be held liable for injuries caused by their employees if they were negligent in hiring or supervising them or if they created unsafe working conditions.
Who is a “Responsible Person” Under the Law?
One of the most important things to know when it comes to liability is that a “Responsible Person” has control over another person’s conduct.
A responsible person can be an employer, a supervisor, or any other person who controls another person. If that person does something wrong and causes injury, the responsible party will be liable for any damages caused by the wrongdoing. In the case of a truck accident, the responsible entity includes the driver, the company (amazon), contractors, repair and maintenance individuals, and the other drivers on the road. This is majorly impacting the truck accident case. The blame is taken from the driver and given to the company’s employer.
The courts have established a number of criteria to determine whether an employer is liable for an employee’s actions. These include:
- The degree of control the employer has over the worker’s conduct
- The relationship between the worker and employer
- The nature of employment and how it affects the risk of harm to others
This is where the insurance representatives and famous attorneys come in, and the company tries to settle the case outside the court or win it by false evidence or other tactics. This is why you need to get yourself an attorney who can help you.
Conclusion
The liability for a vehicle accident is usually assigned to the driver if the driver was negligent and caused an accident. However, with autonomous vehicles, things are slightly different. Employers should be responsible for accidents that occur while their vehicles are in use because they should have a duty of care to take reasonable steps to ensure that their employees or contractors who use their vehicles do not cause accidents.
