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Keywords

appealtrialsummary judgmentappellant
defendantdamagesnegligenceliabilityappealtrialsummary judgmentsustainedvicarious liabilityappellantappellee

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O’Shea v. Welch, 350 F.3d 1101

Facts

The appellant, a motor vehicle accident victim, filed a claim against Osco, the employer of Mr. Welch, who struck the appellant's vehicle while making a left turn. At the time of the accident, Mr. Welch was an Osco store manager driving to deliver football tickets to the District Office. He made a spontaneous decision to stop for routine maintenance on his vehicle, which led to the accident. The district court ruled that Mr. Welch was not acting within the scope of his employment during this incident, prompting the appeal.

Appellant filed a claim in the district court for damages against Defendant Welch based on negligence after Appellant sustained injuries when the car that he was driving was struck by a car driven by Mr. Welch. In his complaint, Appellant alleged that Mr. Welch, an Osco employee, was acting within the scope of his employment at the time of the accident.

Issue

Did the district court err in granting summary judgment to Osco regarding whether Mr. Welch was acting within the scope of his employment at the time of the accident?

The specific issue we are asked to address on appeal is whether the district court erred in granting summary judgment to Appellee Osco on whether Mr. Welch was within the scope of his employment when he turned into the service station for non-emergency maintenance on his car while driving to deliver a vendor gift to the District Office.

Rule

An employer is only liable for injuries caused by an employee acting within the scope of his employment, which includes performing services for which he has been employed or doing anything reasonably incidental to that employment.

Pursuant to Kansas law, an employer is only liable for injuries caused by an employee acting within the scope of his employment.

Analysis

The court analyzed whether Mr. Welch's actions at the time of the accident fell within the scope of his employment. It considered the nature of his trip to deliver tickets and the spontaneous decision to stop for vehicle maintenance. The court noted that the determination of whether an employee's actions constitute a slight or substantial deviation from their employment is generally a question for the jury, especially when reasonable minds may differ on the issue.

Applying slight deviation analysis to our case, we think that the question of whether the turn was within Mr. Welch's scope of employment is for the jury to decide. Whether an employee is acting within the scope of his employment is generally a jury question.

Conclusion

The Court of Appeals reversed the district court's summary judgment in favor of Osco, concluding that genuine issues of material fact existed regarding Mr. Welch's scope of employment at the time of the accident, and remanded the case for trial.

We agree with the district court that summary judgment is inappropriate on this issue. Therefore, this issue must be remanded for trial as well.

Who won?

The appellant, the motor vehicle accident victim, prevailed in the appeal because the court found that there were genuine issues of material fact that precluded summary judgment in favor of Osco.

The Court of Appeals reversed this decision, finding that genuine issues of material fact existed regarding the employer's vicarious liability.

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