Second Circuit Held Defendant Not Entitled to Summary Judgment on Vicarious Liability Claims When It Hired Taxi Company to Transport Defendant’s Employee and Taxi Driver Drove Intoxicated, Causing an Accident.

Metro-North Commuter Railroad hired a taxi driver through Hudson Valley Transportation to transport the plaintiff. The taxi driver was speeding and driving erratically before crashing into a ditch. The plaintiff was injured in the crash, and officers on scene ultimately charged the taxi driver with driving while intoxicated. The plaintiff sued Metro-North under FELA.

The Second Circuit Court reversed the Southern District’s decision dismissing the case against Metro-North. The circuit court held that an issue of material fact existed as to whether the taxi driver acted within the scope of Metro-North’s agency, citing that Metro-North “dispatched” the taxi driver, even though it hired Hudson Valley Transportation, which dispatched the driver. 

The circuit court considered whether Metro-North’s hiring Hudson Valley Transportation “as an intermediary” extinguished any agency between Metro-North and the driver as an issue of fact. The court also held, the foreseeability of whether the driver would drive drunk was also an issue of fact and whether the speed or the intoxication caused the accident, since, as a possible agent of Metro-North, it would be responsible for the driver’s negligence in speeding. The court did affirm the dismissal of direct claims against Metro-North, citing there was no evidence that the company knew or should have known the driver would drive intoxicated. 

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