Legal Question in Insurance Law in Massachusetts

GL ch.231 section 85a

This section creates a rebuttable presumption that the registered owner of an auto is responsible for the conduct of a driver. If the auto is owned by a corporation and driven by an employee, is the corp. responsible for the driver's negligent acts?


Asked on 2/17/09, 10:14 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Roger Turgeon Turgeon & Associates

Re: GL ch.231 section 85a

Even without the statutory presumption, an employer will be held responsible for the actions of an employee driver if that driver was acting within the scope of her employment at the time. This is the legal principle of "respondeat superior." The presumption strengthens the claim against the employer, but usually is not even necessary to establish an employer's liability. If the driver was not "on the job" at the time of an accident, but the employer is sued anyway, it will be the employer's "burden of proof" to overcome the presumption by proving the driver was not in fact on the job at the time.

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Answered on 2/17/09, 11:12 pm


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