Excerpt from Case Study:
Studebaker v. Nettie’s Flower Back garden, Inc.
Individual Judith Studebaker was wounded in a car wreck with James Ferry, an employee of defendant Nettie’s Flower Back garden, Inc. Ferry was responsible for the crash, and Studebaker sought to recover from Nettie’s for the injury within the theory of respondeat remarkable. Ferry was obviously a flower delivery man for defendant. Ferry was paid per delivery, not with an hourly basis, and was responsible for establishing his very own delivery plan. Ferry employed his very own van pertaining to the shipping, but Nettie had requirements for the van. Ferry did not wear a consistent, but was required to dress efficiently and expected to behave in a business-appropriate way. Ferry was responsible for his own expenditures. Ferry acquired finished his morning shipping and then visited a pawn shop to conduct some personal organization. On the way to Nettie’s shop, Ferry had an incident and struck Studebaker’s car. Studebaker helped bring suit against Nettie’s on such basis as respondeat superior. The trial court present in favor of Studebaker. Nettie’s appealed the trial court’s decision, challenging that Ferry was not the employee during the time of the crash. Nettie’s location was depending on two factors: the idea that it did not control Ferry’s tendencies and the proven fact that Ferry was engaged in your own errand prior to the car accident in question. The court evaluated the wholeness of the instances in order to identify whether or not Nettie’s should have recently been held responsible to get Ferry’s crash.
Issues: Would Nettie’s control or have the justification to control Ferry at the time of the collision? Is not the simple fact that Ferry, just prior to the accident, had gone to a pawn shop powerful evidence that he was applying his vehicle exclusively for his 3rd party purposes and was not acting within the course of his employer’s business.
Thinking: The decision in this case comes down to the doctrine of respondeat remarkable. Respondeat remarkable is “A legal doctrine, most commonly used in tort, that holds a company or primary legally in charge of the wrongful acts associated with an employee or agent, in the event that such functions occur inside the scope in the employment or perhaps agency” (Cornell University Law School, 2010). The issue in such a case comes down to if Ferry was an employee of Nettie’s or whether having been an independent contractor outside of Nettie’s control. “The test to ascertain if respondeat superior relates to a atteinte is whether anybody sought to become charged while master experienced the right or power to control and immediate the physical conduct of some other in the overall performance of the act”(Studebaker v. Nettie’s Flower Garden, 842 T. W. 2d 227 (1992). “If there was clearly no directly to control there is no liability; for the people rendering services but retaining control over their own movements are not servants” (Studebaker v. Nettie’s Flower Back garden, 842 H. W. second 227 (1992). “The master-servant relationship occurs when the person charged because master has the right to direct the method by which the masters service is definitely performed” (Studebaker v. Nettie’s Flower Garden, 842 S i9000. W. 2d 227 (1992). “An extra inquiry is whether the person desired to be billed as the servant was engaged in the prosecution of his master’s business and not simply whether the accident occurred during employment” (Studebaker v. Nettie’s Flower Back garden, 842 S. W. second 227 (1992). What many of these factors suggest is that there is not any single check for deciding whether a person is a staff; instead, the court must examine the totality from the circumstances.
Evaluation: Whether or not the trial court’s decision was affordable was depending on whether or not it was reasonable to keep Nettie’s responsible as Ferry’s employer during the time of the incident. The fact that Ferry was not hired because an employee, but worked more like an independent company, was not dispositive of the issue. Even though Ferry was not straight employed by Nettie’s, Nettie got control over his actions. The court declined the discussion that Ferry was on his own time and not on organization time if the accident took place. Instead, the court identified that Nettie’s had sufficient control over Ferry to be categorized as a great
