3 Situations Where Businesses Will Be Held Liable For Auto Accidents Involving Its Vehicles

Liability from Negligence
If the business is negligent in its basic duties and an accident happens as a result of such negligence, then the business will be held completely liable for the accident. For example, an employer is typically required to do a thorough background check on all employees.

However, if a background check of the driver of the vehicle was not done properly and it is found that the driver does not even have valid license to drive any vehicle, then that will definitely be looked upon as negligence from the part of the company. As a consequence, the business will be held financially liable for any accident caused by the driver. Hiring reputed lawyers like Larson Law Auto Accident Attorney can help you deal with such situations better as they can use their expertise to argue that you were never negligent in your responsibilities one bit.

Liability From Lack Of Proper Supervision
Being an employer, you are required to do a thorough supervision of everyone and every job under you. Failure to fulfill such responsibilities properly can make you liable to pay compensation for any resulting auto accidents. For example, if your business involves transporting large quantities of goods, then it is normal to assume that you will have to do a regular checkup of the vehicles to make sure they are fully functional and have not developed any issues that might lead to a malfunction later on. So, if you neglect such checkups and an accident occurs, with later findings indicating that the accident was a result of a failure in the braking system which had not been maintained very well, then your business will be seen directly responsible for the accident because of negligent supervision. A personal injury lawyer can look for incidents that might ease out the focus on your company’s lackluster supervision.

Vicarious Liability
This is a concept of law that is widely applied in cases involving commercial auto accidents. ‘Vicarious liability’ essentially means that the agent’s action will be considered equivalent to the principal’s action when the agent is acting as per the directions of the principal. In our case, the principal is the business and the agent is the driver. So, as long as the driver is acting on behalf of the business, their actions will be considered equal to the actions of the business entity, thereby making the company completely liable for the actions of the driver. For example, suppose that the manager of a business asks the driver to deliver a consignment of goods to a specific warehouse. Now, if an accident occurs while the driver is on the way to the warehouse, then the company will be held liable for the damage suffered by the other party of the accident.

However, if the driver suddenly decides to grab some lunch and the accident happens while the driver is going to a nearby restaurant, then the company won’t be held responsible. In fact, well-experienced personal injury lawyers can easily help your company come out clean in such circumstances.

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