How does a Virginia personal injury lawyer apply the legal principle of respondeat superior? | Shapiro, Washburn & Sharp

My Virginia personal injury and wrongful death colleagues and I most often invoke the concept of respondeat superior in cases involving truck accidents, nursing home negligence and abuse, medical malpractice, surgical errors or accidents at businesses.

The common law principle, whose name translates from Latin as “let the master answer,” allows us to hold the employer liable for compensating our client because its employee acted negligently and inflicted injuries or caused a death. When we make a respondeat superior claim, we must show that the employee most likely acted in a harmful manner due to the employer’s failure to provide sufficient training, supervision, equipment or judgment in hiring and retention.

EJL