The Colorado Supreme Court recently issued a major decision that will prevent plaintiffs from bringing unnecessary and burdensome claims for negligent hiring, training, entrustment, or supervision. In Colorado, employers may be liable for the actions of their employees while at work under the concept of “vicarious liability” regardless of whether the employer was actually at fault. It has previously been common practice for plaintiffs to bring claims for negligent hiring, training, entrustment, or supervision against an employer in addition to negligence claims against the employee. In attempting to prove these claims, plaintiffs were often permitted to dig into an employee’s background and discover “character evidence” that would otherwise be irrelevant, beyond the scope of the discovery, and inadmissible at trial. This week, the Colorado Supreme Court put a stop to that practice. In Ferrer v. Okbamicael, 2017 CO 14, 19 (Colo. 2017), the Colorado Supreme Court held claims for negligent hiring, training, entrustment, or supervision must be dismissed where the employer admits vicarious liability because those claims are “redundant and wasteful.” Id. at 26. The ruling will have broad implications for personal injury litigation in Colorado and will limit the scope of permissible corporate discovery.
If you have any question, please contact Daniel Bristol, Special Counsel at Hall & Evans, LLC, 303-628-3315, bristold@hallevans.com.