Lawmaker may be liable for employee’s fatal crash

A federal lawmaker may be required to answer for the wrongdoing of one of her employees, following a fatal car accident that occurred late last year. The family of the car crash victim says that the lawmaker should be held liable because the driver of the car was operating in his official capacity as an aide when he struck the woman in the crosswalk. The lawmaker says that the aide was attending the event on his own time, not as her employee, and a result she should not be liable for the injuries that occurred when he was on his way home from that event.

The aide has entered a guilty plea in response to the criminal charges against him in this case. He was charged with causing the accident and fleeing the scene of the accident. He will likely also be liable for damages in the wrongful death lawsuit that has been filed by the victim’s family.

The question of whether his employer will be liable is a matter of whether the evidence suggests that he was at the event for work purposes or whether he was there on his own. This can be a difficult question to answer since the line between our work lives and personal lives is becoming more and more blurry as we stay connected to the office on our smartphones and socialize with coworkers and professional connections. The employee has testified under oath that he was in fact attending the party in his official capacity.

Source: Fox News, ” California rep sued over DUI death, questions raised about ties to driver,” April 24, 2014.