Montague v. AMN Healthcare, Inc.
California Court of Appeal
168 Cal. Rptr. 3d 123 (2014)
AMN Healthcare (defendant) assigned its employee, Theresa Drummond, to work as a medical assistant at a Kaiser facility alongside Sara Montague (plaintiff), also a medical assistant there. After minor disputes between Drummond and Montague over stocking rooms and misplaced lab slips, Drummond later poisoned Montague by putting carbolic acid — used at the facility for treating patients — into her water bottle. Montague sued AMN on a vicarious-liability theory, and the trial court granted AMN summary judgment, finding Drummond's poisoning fell outside the scope of her employment; Montague appealed.
Whether, for purposes of employer vicarious liability, an employee's intentional tort falls within the scope of employment if it is incidental to the employee's job duties or reasonably foreseeable in light of the employer's business.