Nichols v. Land Transport Corporation
United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
223 F.3d 21 (2000)
Oscar Gonzalez, a truck driver for Land Transport Corp. (defendant), drove aggressively and repeatedly tried to illegally pass Robert Nichols's (plaintiff) pickup truck; after Nichols made an obscene gesture, the two stopped at a light, and Gonzalez got out of his tractor-trailer, attacked Nichols with a metal cable, and stabbed him in the thigh with a knife, resulting in Gonzalez's conviction for aggravated assault. Nichols sued Land Transport to hold it vicariously liable for the assault, and the district court granted the company summary judgment; Nichols appealed.
Whether an employer may be held vicariously liable for an employee truck driver's violent roadside assault on another motorist arising from a road-rage confrontation.