AGENCY
Agency is a very important concept when owning a business. If you are the owner, it is usually impossible for you to run every aspect of your company. You need others to take action on behalf of the company. But how much authority do these agents or employees have? Your specific business may also rely on others to perform management tasks that give them rights to legally bind the company. In either of these events, you need to know how and when to give authority to agents. Does your authorization need to be in writing?
Then, you have situations, as discussed below, where an agent commits a tort. Are you as the business owner liable for that tort? You remember torts, right?
Based on the concepts in Chapter 16, please read the following fact pattern and answer the questions in the Practice and Review at the end of the chapter:
Lynne Meyer, on her way to a business meeting and in a hurry, stopped by a Buy-Mart store for a new car charger for her smartphone. There was a long line at one of the checkout counters, but a cashier, Valerie Watts, opened another counter and began loading the cash drawer. Meyer told Watts that she was in a hurry and asked Watts to work faster. Watts, however, only slowed her pace. At this point, Meyer hit Watts.
It is not clear whether Meyer hit Watts intentionally or, in an attempt to retrieve the car charger, hit her inadvertently. In response, Watts grabbed Meyer by the hair and hit her repeatedly in the back of the head, while Meyer screamed for help. Management personnel separated the two women and questioned them about the incident. Watts was immediately fired for violating the store’s no-fighting policy. Meyer subsequently sued Buy-Mart, alleging that the store was liable for the tort (assault and battery) committed by its employee. Using the information presented in the chapter, answer the following questions.
Under what doctrine discussed in Chapter 16 might Buy-Mart be held liable for the tort committed by Watts? What is the key factor in determining whether Buy-Mart is liable under this doctrine?
Suppose that when Watts applied for the job at Buy-Mart, she disclosed in her application that she had previously been convicted of felony assault and battery. Nevertheless, Buy-Mart hired Watts as a cashier. How might this fact affect Buy-Mart’s liability for Watts’s actions?
