CBA Record Sept. 2016

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ment cases. Examples of what are referred
to as “first-party” negligent entrustment
cases from other jurisdictions are Hays v.
Royer, 384 S.W.3d 330 (2012) and Martell
v. Driscoll, 297 Kan. 524 (2013). In both
instances, the plaintiffs were first-parties
who were injured in accidents caused by
their own negligence after being entrusted
vehicles by the defendants, Hays v. Royer,
384 S.W.3d 330, 331 (2012) and Martell
v. Driscoll , 297 Kan. 524, 528 (2013).
Each court in those cases turned to
the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 390
to determine that first-party negligent
entrustment claims are viable under their
state laws. This section is an illustration of
a potential negligent entrustment scenario
and reads:
A rents his boat to B and C, who are
both obviously so intoxicated as to
make it likely that they will misman-
age the boat so as to capsize it or to
collide with other boats. B and C
by their drunken mismanagement
collide with the boat of D, upset-
ting both boats. B, C, and D are
drowned. A is subject to liability to
the estates of B, C, and D under the
death statute, although the estates of
B and C may be also liable for the
death of D. Restatement (Second) of
Torts § 390 comment (c), Illustration
7 (1965).
From this illustration the courts deter-
mined that as long as a state’s contributory
negligence laws did not already block the
claim, an assertion of negligent entrust-
ment is valid against an entrustor, Hays,
384 S.W.3d at 338 and Martell, 297 Kan.
at 532. Once again, these are significant
decisions that further expand the factual
scenarios where negligent entrustment is
applicable.
Another example of the expanding trend
occurring in courts includes expansion
of what can be entrusted. Traditionally,
property included in negligent entrustment
cases has been limited to cars, various type
of guns, or other dangerous items. How-
ever, a recent case in Tennessee expanded
on these items. In West v. East Tenn. Pioneer
Oil Co., 172 S.W.3d 545 (2005), the plain-
tiff alleged that the defendant, a gas station,
entrusted gasoline to a clearly intoxicated
individual, who was later involved in an
automobile accident, West, 172 S.W.3d
at 547 (2005). The plaintiffs asserted that
when the gas station sold and assisted the
intoxicated driver with pumping gas it
entrusted himwith it and that it was clearly
foreseeable that the gasoline would be used
in a manner that would place others in
danger.
The Tennessee Supreme Court agreed
with this claim and reversed the lower
courts’ decisions to grant summary judg-
ment, explaining that the plaintiffs estab-
lished a prima facie case for negligent
entrustment. This, like the previous cases,
is an expansion on property that is typically
included in negligent entrustment cases.
This expansion, once again, further high-
lights the pro-plaintiff shift in negligent
entrustment decisions. Overall, when
viewed as a whole, these cases clearly sig-
nify a definite trend. This means that more
courts are willing to, and should continue
to be willing to, allow plaintiffs injured
by negligently entrusted property to file
against the entrustor of that property.
Conclusion
Liability for negligent entrustment is
expanding as courts face more difficult
entrustment scenarios and lawyers seek to
apply the law to those cases. The public is
served well by this expansion as justice is
done for these victims.
G. Grant Dixon III is the founder of the
personal injury and worker’s compensation
law firm, Dixon Law Office, with offices in
LaGrange, Chicago and Oakbrook Terrace.
Grant would like to thank Ryan Liss for his
extensive research and writing contributions
to this article.
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CBA RECORD 41