INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., March 3 – The state Supreme Court has upheld the Court of Appeals decision in Raleigh v. Performance Plumbing, dismissing the negligent hiring claims against the defendant. Members of the Raleigh family sued Performance for damages after they were involved in an accident with a company employee.

The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) stated that it joined other industry members in an amicus brief to the court, arguing that an employer is not liable under the tort of negligent hiring for injuries plaintiffs sustain in an automobile accident with an employees commute from work.

NAMIC participated in filing the brief because insurance carriers would have been adversely impacted from an underwriting and claims standpoint with any legal decision increasing liability exposure for employers, stated NAMICs western region state affairs manager Christian John Rataj.

According to the Supreme Court, the accident occurred after the employee had finished his workday and the scope of negligent hiring did not extend to the plaintiff because the job for which it hired the employee did not include driving to and from work.

The Performance Plumbing holding is important to the insurance industry, because it should discourage plaintiff attorneys from trying to assert negligent hiring claims against employers in cases where there is no factual nexus between the employees negligence and the scope of the employees professional responsibilities to the employer, said Rataj. Case law has regularly held that an employer is not typically liable for an employees negligence that occurs during an employees commute, so its logical and reasonable for the court to hold that there is no liability for negligent hiring under the same circumstance.