Las Vegas, NV – There are a number of trucks and other types of vehicles on the roads each day that are used for business and commercial purposes rather than recreational driving. These drivers have a high risk of being involved in collisions, especially if they need to be on the roads for hours at a time or drive several hundred miles each day. When one of these drivers harms others due to negligence on the roads, they can be sued like any other regular driver, although there are some minor differences with lawsuits against business and commercial drivers.
Attaching all relevant parties as defendants
When a lawsuit is filed against the driver of a business vehicle, both the company that owns the vehicle as well as the individual driver will be attached. This is because businesses are liable for the actions of employees engaged in their normal job duties, as well as the fact that the company may have some kind of special insurance or other financial means of paying for the victims’ losses even when the individual driver does not. This doctrine of employer liability and agency is called respondeat superior in tort law. There are many legal implications, including liability, for a person working at the direction of another business or entity.
Ways to test for employer liability
In most cases, an employee who is actively working and not engaged in some kind of intervening reckless or criminal act will trigger employer responsibility. Most jurisdictions will look to see if either the parent business or company was benefitting from the person’s labor and actions, or if the worker was engaged in some kind of common or routine practice related to their job. This is true even if the worker was not directly under the employer’s supervision at the time of the accident. However, there may be some complexity to this rule if the worker was considered an independent contractor at the time and not a standard employee of the company.
Establishing negligence
Regardless of the party attached as a defendant, the victim’s attorney must still prove that the worker was negligent at the time of the accident for their client to collect. This includes the four elements of a relevant duty of care, a breach of that duty, causation between the actions and injuries, and damages.
Help for local accident victims
Southwest Injury Law is a trusted firm that deals with motor vehicle collisions, personal injury cases, and all related issues in the Las Vegas area. People who have recently been involved in a collision have the option of speaking with a licensed attorney and discussing their situation further.
Firm contact info:
8716 Spanish Ridge Ave, Suite 120, Las Vegas, NV 89148
702-600-3200
www.southwestinjurylaw.com
