INSURANCE I.Q

Companies can be held liable if an employee has an accident in a personal or company vehicle, but a sound risk management strategy can help reduce milliondollar verdicts of negligent-entrustment lawsuits.

Negligent Entrustment

A company could be liable for damages if an employee has a collision while driving for work purposes in either their own or a company supplied vehicle. A negligent entrustment claim could occur if a company has a weak or nonexistent fleet risk management program, regardless of who’s at fault in the accident.

The principle of negligent entrustment is not based on negligence of the at-fault driver, but on negligence of the company for supplying a vehicle to a driver who is not subject to any assessment, license record checks, motor vehicle record checks, driver safety training and ongoing activity/performance monitoring.

More and more companies are subject to negligent entrustment lawsuits, as the victims and their attorneys are often awarded large payouts. Negligent entrustment implies that an employer knew, or should have known, that they put an unsafe driver behind the wheel of a company vehicle.

Expensive Precedents

A sampling of past cases demonstrates what could be at stake with negligent entrustment.

In the 2004 case of Brooks v. Hancock, a 19-yearold student was turning left at an intersection when a pickup truck traveling in the opposite direction, struck his car and killed him. The student’s mother sued the pickup truck driver and his employer, claiming that the driver was driving too fast. The suit alleged negligent entrustment of the vehicle to the driver, who had a history of motor-vehicle citations, and the claimant was awarded a very large verdict in this lawsuit.

Summary

Negligent entrustment is the negligence of employers in supplying vehicles to drivers without subjecting them to assessment, license record checks, motor vehicle record checks, driver safety training and ongoing activity/performance monitoring.

Negligent entrustment is fast becoming a milliondollar risk for employers.

Risk managers can mitigate the risk by instituting a clear, formal and consistent driver safety program.

For more information, contact Brad Schmid at bschmid@cbiz.com or (763) 549-2247.

reach those who are being left behind while GOP officials announced their intention to return the surplus to the taxpayers of Minnesota. Some combination of increased spending through a supplemental budget as well as targeted tax relief will likely now both be in play during the 2022 session.

Leadership Changes

Both caucuses in the Minnesota Senate have elected new leaders to navigate their parties through next year’s session and the all-important 2022 election, which will see all 201 members of the Legislature on the ballot.

Senator Paul Gazelka (R – Nisswa) had been the leader of the Senate Republican caucus since 2017, but stepped down from that position in early September in order to focus on his run for Governor. Senator Gazelka has been the face of the Republican party as the lead negotiator in dealing with DFL Governors and a DFLlead House during his time in leadership. His resignation as Majority Leader was expected as his Gubernatorial ambitions have been widely reported, but less certain was who his successor would be.

The new Republican leader will be Senator Jeremy Miller (R – Winona). Senator Miller was first elected in 2010 and has been serving as Senate President since 2019. Senator Miller is the father of three young boys and works as the chief financial officer for his family’s scrap metal company in Winona. He has been an approachable and thoughtful legislator with a reputation for trying to find common ground and reaching across the aisle in an effort to reach compromise.

While Senator Gazelka’s choice to step down was widely anticipated, the same cannot be said for DFL Minority Leader Senator Susan Kent (DFL – Woodbury). Senator Kent, who took over the leadership role in early 2020, announced that she will not seek reelection in 2022 and would step down from her leadership position immediately. The new Senate DFL Leader will be Senator Melisa Lopez Franzen (DFL – Edina). Senator Franzen, who was born and raised in Puerto Rico, will be the first member of the People of Color and Indigenous caucus to be elected to lead a caucus in the Minnesota Senate, was first elected to the Senate in 2012. She is an attorney and small business owner and has served on both the influential Commerce and Finance Committees.

Both new Senate leaders will try to use the 2022 session to help frame their election message for the fall.

2022 Elections

The 2022 elections will loom over everything that happens during the 2022 session. In addition to the 201 legislative races for control of the state House and Senate, we also have statewide races for Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State and Auditor. Republicans are looking to win their first statewide race since Governor Pawlenty’s successful reelection campaign in 2006 and will look to highlight their policy differences with Governor Walz throughout the session. It all starts when lawmakers return to St. Paul on January 31, 2022.