Negligent entrustment holds the vehicle owner directly liable for entrusting a dangerous instrumentality to an unfit operator. In trucking, the elements typically require entrustment of the vehicle, the driver's incompetence or unfitness, the carrier's actual or constructive knowledge of that unfitness, and causation.
It is a direct negligence theory against the carrier, independent of vicarious liability for the driver's conduct.
Alternative Names:
Entrustment Claim
Why it Matters?
Entrustment opens discovery into the carrier's own conduct: hiring records, driving history, prior violations, and internal safety decisions. That evidence would often be irrelevant if the case were purely vicarious, which is why plaintiffs plead it and why the admission of vicarious liability defense exists to try to eliminate it.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
How is negligent entrustment different from negligent hiring?
Does admitting vicarious liability defeat an entrustment claim?
