(This syllabus is not part of the opinion of the Court. It has been prepared by the Office of the Clerk for the convenience of the reader. It has been neither reviewed nor approved by the Supreme Court. Please note that, in the interests of brevity, portions of any opinion may not have been summarized).
(NOTE: The Court wrote no full opinion in this case. Rather, the Court’s affirmance of the
judgment of the Appellate Division is based substantially on the reasons expressed in Judge Conley’s
opinion below.)
Argued November 18, 2002 -- Decided February 19, 2002
PER CURIAM
The issue in this appeal is whether the doctrine of respondeat superior may
be invoked to hold an employer vicariously liable for the tort of an
employee when the employee, an attorney, has an automobile accident while traveling from
his home to his municipal court judgeship employment.
Paul J. Carr, an attorney with the law firm of Murray & Carr,
was involved in a motor vehicle accident with Adrienne L. O’Toole while traveling
to the Tuckerton Municipal Court, where he presided as a part-time municipal judge.
Carr leased the vehicle he was driving in his personal capacity and insured
it through First Trenton Indemnity. Lease payments, in addition to gas, tolls and
other car expenses, were paid from Carr’s corporate account. None of the income
derived from the judgeship went into the partnership business account or corporate accounts.
Although there was disputed testimony presented regarding Carr’s use of a personal cell
phone to conduct law firm business, it is undisputed that Carr was not
on the cell phone at the time of the accident. There is no
basis, therefore, to conclude that he was directly engaged in law firm business
at the time of the accident.
The trial court granted the motions for summary judgment filed by O’Toole and
Carr, reasoning that there was a sufficient “nexus” and a sufficient benefit to
the firm from Carr’s judgeship so as to make the law firm’s excess
policy available to O’Toole. The trial court further held that Carr was acting
as an agent for the law firm. The Appellate Division reversed, holding that
Carr’s commute to his other job did not fall within any exception to
the “going and coming rule.”
HELD: The judgment of the Appellate Division is AFFIRMED substantially for the reasons
expressed in Judge Conley’s opinion.
1. The Court declines to adopt the broader enterprise liability theory that is
the standard for respondeat superior in California, retaining instead the Restatement as our
vicarious liability standard. Restatement (Second) of Agency §§ 220, 228, 229 (1958). (Pp. 5-6)
CHIEF JUSTICE PORITZ and JUSTICES COLEMAN, LONG, VERNIERO, LaVECCHIA, ZAZZALI, and ALBIN
join in this opinion.
SUPREME COURT OF NEW JERSEY
A-105/
106 September Term 2001
ADRIENNE O'TOOLE and CHARLES O’TOOLE, JR., h/w,
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
and
CHRISTINE O’TOOLE and SARAH O’TOOLE, minors, by and through their father and guardian
ad litem, CHARLES O’TOOLE, JR.,
Plaintiffs,
v.
PAUL J. CARR and/or JOHN DOE (fictitious name),
Defendant-Appellant,
and
MURRAY AND CARR and/or JOHN DOE #1-5 (fictitious name),
Defendant-Respondent,
and
BOROUGH OF TUCKERTON and/or JOHN DOE #6-15 (fictitious name), KATHERINE CARR and/or JANE
DOE (fictitious name), TOYOTA MOTOR CREDIT CORPORATION and/or JOHN DOE CORPORATION (fictitious name),
TOWNSHIP OF EAGLESWOOD and/or JOHN DOE #16-20 (fictitious name), RICHARD ROE (fictitious name)
and/or RICHARD ROE COMPANY (fictitious name) and/or RICHARD ROE, INC. (fictitious name individually,
jointly, severally and/or in the alternative,
Defendants.
Argued November 18, 2002 – Decided February 19, 2003
On appeal from the Superior Court, Appellate Division, whose opinion is reported at
345 N.J. Super. 559 (2001).
Kenneth R. Austin argued the cause for appellants Adrienne O'Toole and Charles O’Toole,
Jr., (Flynn Austin & Associates, attorneys).
Michelle A. Monte argued the cause for appellant Paul J. Carr (Monte, Sachs
& Borowsky, attorneys).
William P. Ford argued the cause for respondent (Ford Marrin Esposito Witmeyer &
Gleser, attorneys; Mr. Ford and Mary Clare Gartland, of counsel).
PER CURIAM
Plaintiff, Adrienne L. O’Toole was injured in an automobile accident caused by defendant,
Paul J. Carr, an attorney with the law firm of Murray & Carr.
She sued Carr and the law firm. The facts surrounding the accident were
described by the Appellate Division as follows:
Most of the particular circumstances are not in dispute. On January 8, 1998,
the O’Tooles’ vehicle was struck by Carr’s vehicle on Route 9 in the
Township of Eagleswood. At the time of the accident, Carr was driving to
the Tuckerton Municipal Court, where he presided as a part-time municipal judge. His
car was leased. Lease payments, in addition to gas, tolls and other car
expenses, were paid from Carr’s corporate account. Income in this corporate account was
derived from law firm disbursements after partnership overhead expenses were paid. No income,
however, from Carr’s judgeships, or Murray’s (who also was a part-time municipal judge)
judgeships, went in the partnership business account or their separate corporate accounts. Carr’s
vehicle was not leased in either the partnership or corporate name, but rather
was leased by Carr in his personal capacity. The vehicle was insured by
First Trenton Indemnity with bodily injury limits of $100,000 for each person and
$300,000 for each accident. In contrast, the law firm had a million dollar
automobile policy with CNA. The judge noted that plaintiffs had no underinsured motorists’
coverage, thus enabling them to recover from either policy.
There are a few disputed facts. Carr had a portable cellular phone at
the time of the accident which he had with him in the vehicle.
Sometime before the accident, he claims to have made several law firm-related calls,
one to his secretary to check his diary for the day and one
or two to law firm clients. It was his deposition testimony that were
it not for the accident, these clients would have been billed for the
phone calls. Some question is raised as to the existence of the calls
as phone bills purporting to be those of Carr’s cell phone do not
reflect the calls. The authenticity and accuracy of these records is disputed. Were
there some basis for concluding that the accident occurred while Carr was engaged
in one of the firm-related phone calls he claims to have made, the
dispute of fact as to their existence might be critical. Carr, however, admitted
in deposition testimony that he had finished the phone calls and was not
on the cell phone at the time of the accident. There is no
basis for concluding, therefore, that at the time of the accident, Carr was
directly engaged in law firm business.
[O’Toole v. Carr,
345 N.J. Super. 559, 562-63 (App. Div. 2001) (footnote omitted).]
On those facts, the trial court granted the motions for summary judgment filed
by plaintiff and Carr, concluding, as a matter of law, that:
[As to] any attorney who is also a municipal court judge even though
the direct contributions may not be going back into the firm, there is
a sufficient nexus and a sufficient benefit to that firm from that activity
which inures to the benefit of all partners in that firm.... That is
a sufficient connection so as to make [the law firm’s] excess policy available
for this accident.
....
That [Carr] was in fact on sufficient law firm business at the time
of the event so as to be, “legally designated as an agent.” To
the extent that we need that designat[ion] to implicate the policy.
[Id. at 564 (alteration in original).]
The Appellate Division reversed, determining that Carr’s commute to his other job did
not fall within any exception to the “going and coming rule”:
To begin with, it would be violative of Canon 2 of the Code
of Judicial Conduct to say that Carr was serving any purpose of the
law firm while commuting to his municipal judgeship position and thus the dual
purpose exception does not apply. And, certainly he was not on a law
firm special errand or mission. Neither does the record support a finding that
the firm’s practice required him to have a vehicle for off-site firm business.
Finally, he was not in an “on-call” capacity.
We can, therefore, find no authority in New Jersey for imposing vicarious liability
upon the law firm for Carr’s auto negligence under the particular circumstances as
they are reflected in the present record.
[Id. at 570.]
We fully agree.
We add only this. Plaintiff and Carr argue that we should consider the
broad articulation of enterprise liability adopted in California, which states that the “‘modern
and proper basis of vicarious liability of the master is not his control
or fault but the risks incident to his enterprise.’” Huntsinger v. Fell,
99 Cal. Rptr. 666, 668 (Cal. Ct. App. 1972) (quoting Hinman v. Westinghouse Elec.
Co.,
471 P.2d 988, 990 (Cal. 1970) (in bank)). In other words, “‘[t]he
losses caused by the torts of employees, which as a practical matter are
sure to occur in the conduct of the employer’s enterprise, are placed upon
that enterprise itself, as a required cost of doing business.’” Ibid. (quoting Hinman,
supra, 471 P.
2d at 990 (quotation omitted)).
As we stated today in Carter v. Reynolds, ___ N.J. ____ (2002), we
have thus far declined to adopt that view, retaining instead the Restatement as
our vicarious liability standard. Restatement (Second) of Agency §§ 220, 228, 229 (1958). Further,
even if we were inclined to adopt the broadest view of enterprise liability,
it would not alter the outcome in this case. As Judge Conley noted,
Carr’s commutation to his job as a municipal court judge is, as a
legal matter, unrelated to his law firm activity. Accordingly, the accident could in
no event be considered a risk incident to that enterprise.
The judgment of the Appellate Division is affirmed substantially for the reasons expressed
in Judge Conley’s thorough and thoughtful opinion.
CHIEF JUSTICE PORITZ and JUSTICES COLEMAN, LONG, VERNIERO, LaVECCHIA, ZAZZALI and ALBIN join
in this opinion.
SUPREME COURT OF NEW JERSEY
NO. A-105/106 SEPTEMBER TERM 2001
ON APPEAL FROM Appellate Division, Superior Court
ADRIENNE O’TOOLE and CHARLES
O’TOOLE, JR., h/w,
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
PAUL J. CARR and/or JOHN DOE
(fictitious name),
Defendant-Appellant.
DECIDED February 19, 2003
Chief Justice Poritz PRESIDING
OPINION BY Per Curiam
CONCURRING OPINION BY
DISSENTING OPINION BY
CHECKLIST