Negligent Maintenance of a Vehicle

April 13, 2006

	Visited: 189
	Not rated
	Rate:

In negligent maintenance cases, you will be liable for an accident if a condition of your company vehicle made it unsafe to drive and that condition (for example, faulty brakes or a bad tire) contributed to the accident. Unlike some of the other liabilities from employee use of your vehicles we discuss, you can be sued by both your employee and anyone the employee injures with your vehicle if it was negligently maintained.

A lawyer who sues you for negligent maintenance will usually argue the case in one of two ways:

1. Negligence per se. The first way, and the way that is by far the easiest for the lawyer if the facts lend themselves to it, is to show that the condition of the vehicle made it unlawful to be driven at the time. A vehicle with nonfunctioning brake lights, or a vehicle that has not undergone a mandatory safety inspection that would have caught the problem that led to the accident, are two examples. The lawyer's term for driving a vehicle in an unlawful condition is negligence per se.

Warning

In many states, once a lawyer establishes the unlawful condition of a vehicle (negligence per se) and shows that it contributed to the accident, you become automatically liable. The only issue left for a jury in such a case may be simply determining the amount you'll have to pay. The lesson here, and the strategy for reducing your liability under this theory, is simple: Never allow your vehicle to be operated in a condition where a police officer could issue you a citation for driving it.

2. "Ordinary" negligence. Even if your vehicle is not in a condition that makes it unlawful to drive, it may give rise to an "ordinary" negligent maintenance claim. To establish "ordinary" negligence, a lawyer usually must show all of the following:

A reasonable person would have spotted and repaired a given condition in the vehicle that made the vehicle less safe (but not necessarily unlawful) to drive. For example, maybe one of your tires showed uneven tread wear and had a small bald spot in it.
You and your agents did not repair the given condition. Continuing our example, let's suppose you did not have the tire changed. Of course, it's entirely possible that you didn't even know there was a bald spot on the tire. Remember, it's not necessarily what you knew, but what a reasonable person would have known. Note, however, that you may be in more trouble if you knew there was a bald spot and did nothing about it than if you simply didn't know about the bald spot.
The condition contributed to an accident causing bodily or property injury to the person who sued you. If the tire on the vehicle in our example blew out and caused your employee to lose control, there is a strong case for causation. On the other hand, if the accident was caused by someone who ran a red light, the fact that there is a bald spot on one tire is less relevant, but perhaps not completely irrelevant. (A lawyer could argue that your employee would have avoided the vehicle that ran the red light if your vehicle had been equipped with proper tires. Or the lawyer could try to use the bad tire as evidence that you are a negligent person who doesn't care about the condition of your vehicle.)

There is one more thing you should understand about these kinds of cases: after an accident, many people — and especially lawyers — will do a lot of "Monday morning quarterbacking." Even if a tire on your vehicle had a bald spot on the side closest to the vehicle, where it was unlikely that anyone would have seen it, a good lawyer can make you look like a degenerate employer. Just imagine the attorney pointing to a woman in a wheelchair saying, "She would still be walking if this employer had just taken two minutes to take a close look at the tires on his company vehicle once in a while."

What can you do to reduce the likelihood of successful negligent maintenance claims? Obviously, the quality of your vehicle is the focus of these claims. Thus, taking steps to ensure that your vehicles are adequately maintained and documenting that you have taken those steps is usually your best defense. Here are some things that can help you to protect yourself:

Obtain adequate insurance on all of your vehicles. Ask your insurance agent about any vehicle safety programs he or she can recommend.
Establish vehicle policies that instruct employees to report any problems with your vehicles immediately, and direct them not to drive any vehicles in an unlawful or patently unsafe condition. Be sure to do something about reported problems as soon as possible.
Conduct periodic maintenance and safety checks on your vehicles. Even better, have a qualified third party — such as a certified mechanic — do the checks. Keep a file of papers documenting the fact that you have done these checks. You can use those documents to help convince a jury that you are not negligent about the safety of your vehicles.

If you are concerned about keeping your vehicles in good condition, and documenting the fact that you conduct regular vehicle inspections, you should consider downloading a copy of the checklist for evaluating used vehicles from our Business Tools section.

The checklist is a handy two-page size and includes spaces for any comments you want to make. You can also give a copy to a mechanic whom you trust and ask him or her to inspect your vehicle.