Joe owns a bike shop. His shop sells and repairs bikes. One of his employees, Ma

Question

Joe owns a bike shop. His shop sells and repairs bikes. One of his employees, Madison (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site., was repairing a bike with one of those pesky periodic problems that would never occur when the repair technician was around. The customer said that the gears periodically wound not shift properly. Madison (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. took the bike out for a test ride hoping to replicate the problem. However, the problem did not appear. Because it was approaching noon, Madison (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. decided to ride the bike to her home to have lunch. On the way back to the shop, Madison (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. negligently hit a small child and injured her. Discuss the liability of Madison (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. and Joe’s bike shop for the injuries to the child.

Explanation / Answer

Issue: Madison who was the employee as Joe’s bike shop negligently hit a child and injured her while driving a customer’s bike to her home. Liability of Madison and Joe’s bike shop for the child’s injury needs to be determined.

Case/ law applicable: Scope of employment consideration. It includes the range of authority and duties that an employee have in order to fulfill the requirements of his/her designation. If an employee commits some negligence while he/she is within the scope of employment, then the employer would also be liable for the loss/damage due to the negligence.

Result: In the given case, Madison was not acting within the scope of employment as she was riding the bike to her home to have lunch. Rather than this, if she would have caused the accident while she was test driving the bike, then Joe’s bike shop would also be held liable as in that case Madison would have been within the scope of employment. Therefore, only Madison would be held liable for the negligence and child’s injury.

Hence, it is concluded that only Madison is liable for the child’s injury. The employer i.e. Joe’s bike shop cannot be held liable for the same.

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