NEGLIGENT HIRING: POST-TERMINATION MISCONDUCT
Phillips v. TLC Plumbing, Inc., (4th District, April 3, 2009) --- Cal.Rptr.3d. ----, 2009 WL 884938, 09 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 4215
A woman whose mother was murdered by a former plumbing repairman, filed an action for wrongful death against the plumbing service which had employed him. The plaintiff alleged that her mother met the repairman when he had been dispatched to her home by the defendants, and that they had started a relationship following his termination. The plaintiff further alleged that although the murder occurred two years after the repairman had been terminated, the defendants were aware at the time he was hired that he was on parole, and that he had been convicted of domestic violence and/or arson involving his former wife.
The trial court granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment, finding that they could not be held vicariously liable for the plaintiff’s injuries because there was no employer-employee relationship at the time of the killing. The court also found that it was not reasonably foreseeable that the repairman would enter into a personal relationship with the victim which would later lead to a shooting and killing two years later. The court of appeal affirmed, holding that an employer does not owe a plaintiff a duty of care in a negligent hiring and retention action for an injury inflicted by a former employee:
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