Court: Utah Supreme Court
Citation: 2021 UT 30
Opinion Date: July 15, 2021
Judge: Pearce
Areas of Law: Personal Injury
The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the district court granting judgment on the pleadings in favor of Nebo School District on Plaintiff’s negligent employment claim, holding that the district court erred in dismissing Plaintiff’s negligent employment claim.
A school bus operated by a driver employed by Nebo School District caused a crash with Plaintiff. In his complaint, Plaintiff claimed that Nebo was liable for its driver’s negligence under principles of respondent superior and that Nebo was independently negligent because it continued to employ the driver even though he had been involved in several accidents. Nebo moved for judgment on the pleadings, arguing that the negligent employment claim was redundant with the negligence claim and that Plaintiff was not entitled to pursue a claim directly against it after it conceded vicarious liability. The district court granted the motion. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the district court (1) did not abuse its discretion when it found that Nebo’s motion for judgment on the pleadings was timely; and (2) Plaintiff was entitled to proceed on alternate claims.
This case law update is brought to you by Freeway Law auto accident and personal injury law attorneys. The following is not one of our cases, but it is of some significance, and we thought we should share it with our readers for informational purposes. The information above is for informational purposes only and not to be construed as legal advice.
