⚡ 10-Second Rule
The boss pays for authorized deals and for job-related accidents, but usually not for a hired outsider's mistakes.
🧒 ELI-10 Scene
Nina owns a pizza shop and hires Marco to deliver pies in the shop's van. Marco swings two blocks off his route to grab a soda. He bumps a parked bike and dents it. Nina pays for the bike. Why? Marco was still basically doing his job. Small side trips come with the territory. But if Marco drove forty miles to a beach party and crashed, that's his own adventure. Nina wouldn't pay for that. Now compare the plumber Nina hires once to fix a sink. He works his own way, with his own tools. His mistakes are his own problem, not Nina's.
⚖️ Actual Rule
Contract liability turns on disclosure. Paraphrasing Restatement (Third) of Agency §§ 6.01–6.03: when an agent with authority contracts for a disclosed principal (the third party knows the principal exists and who it is), the principal is bound and the agent is not a party unless the parties agree otherwise; for an unidentified (partially disclosed) principal (existence known, identity unknown) and for an undisclosed principal (existence unknown), both the principal and the agent are parties, so the third party can hold either. Tort liability rests on respondeat superior: under §§ 2.04 and 7.07, an employer is liable for torts an employee commits within the scope of employment — conduct performing assigned work or subject to the employer's control — but not for an independent course of conduct with no intent to serve the employer. Courts capture that line as detour versus frolic: minor deviations stay in scope, major personal departures do not. Intentional torts fall outside the scope unless the conduct was meant, at least in part, to serve the employer or is a foreseeable incident of the job. A principal is generally not vicariously liable for an independent contractor's torts, with exceptions for inherently dangerous activities, nondelegable duties, and the principal's own negligence in selecting or supervising the contractor. Separately, the agent owes the principal fiduciary duties: loyalty (§ 8.01), no secret profits or material benefits from the agency (§ 8.02), no acting for an adverse party (§ 8.03), no competing during the agency (§ 8.04), reasonable care (§ 8.08), and obedience to lawful instructions (§ 8.09).
ELI-10 translation: known boss pays alone; hidden boss and helper both pay; job accidents land on the boss, personal adventures don't.
🔍 Ask These Questions
- For a contract, was the principal disclosed, unidentified, or undisclosed to the third party? (Did the outside person know there was a boss, and who the boss was?)
- Did the agent act with authority — actual, apparent, or by ratification? (Did the helper really have the power, or at least look like it?)
- For a tort, is the tortfeasor an employee or an independent contractor — who controls the manner and means of the work? (Does the boss control how the job gets done, or only the finished result?)
- Was the employee's act within the scope of employment — assigned work, or conduct controlled by the employer? (Was the helper doing job stuff when the harm happened?)
- Was any deviation a detour or a frolic — minor and expectable, or a substantial personal departure? (Quick soda stop, or forty-mile beach trip?)
- If the actor was an independent contractor, does an exception apply — inherently dangerous activity, nondelegable duty, or negligent hiring? (Some jobs are so risky the boss can't pass the blame.)
- Did the agent breach a fiduciary duty to the principal — loyalty, care, or obedience? (Did the helper sneak a profit, help a rival, or ignore instructions?)
⚠️ Bar Trap
Exam language: Examiners describe an employee who deviates slightly from an assigned route or task, then bait you into concluding the deviation defeats respondeat superior. A minor detour remains within the scope of employment; only a frolic — a substantial departure for purely personal purposes — takes the employee outside it. The companion trap runs the other way: labeling someone an "independent contractor" and forgetting that control over the manner and means of work, not the label, decides employee status.
ELI-10: A tiny side trip doesn't free the boss from paying. Only a big personal adventure does. And calling a worker a "contractor" means nothing if the boss still runs how the work gets done.
🧪 Question
A florist employed a driver to make daily deliveries along a fixed route, using a company van, on a schedule the florist set. One afternoon, while driving between two scheduled delivery stops, the driver turned three blocks off the route to drop off her own dry cleaning, intending to resume deliveries immediately afterward. While on the side street, she negligently struck a cyclist. The cyclist sued the florist on a respondeat superior theory. The florist argues that the driver was outside the scope of employment at the moment of the collision.
Is the florist vicariously liable for the cyclist's injuries?
(A) No, because the driver was serving a purely personal purpose when the collision occurred. (B) No, because an employer is liable only for torts it authorizes or later ratifies. (C) Yes, because the driver's brief deviation was a mere detour within the scope of employment. (D) Yes, because an employer is strictly liable for any tort an employee commits while using a company vehicle.
Answer: (C). The driver was an employee performing assigned deliveries, and a three-block errand with intent to resume the route immediately is a minor deviation — a detour — so the negligence occurred within the scope of employment.
💡 Why the Wrong Answers Are Wrong
- (A) treats every personal errand as a frolic; a slight deviation in time and space, with intent to return to the job, stays within the scope.
- (B) states the wrong standard — respondeat superior imposes vicarious liability for torts within the scope of employment, with no authorization or ratification required.
- (D) overshoots: a company vehicle alone does not create liability; an employee on a true frolic in the company van is outside the scope.
- ELI-10: The misconception is thinking any personal side trip cuts the boss loose. Small wobbles off the route are still part of the job.
