“Negligent Entrustment” of a Motor Vehicle – Law in Nevada

You can sue a person or company for negligent entrustment in Nevada if they were vicariously liable for someone else harming you with a car, a gun, or other object that they were unqualified or incapable of using safely.

Examples of negligent entrustment include:

• Parents allowing their minor child to drive their SUV without supervision, and the child crashes into you; or
• Someone letting their drunk friend borrow their gun, and then the friend accidentally shoots you; or
• A hardware store owner letting a new trainee handle flammable materials, and the trainee starts a fire that burns you.

To help you better understand Nevada’s law on negligent entrustment, our Las Vegas personal injury lawyers discuss:

• 1. Elements of Negligent Entrustment
• 2. Car Accident Cases
• 3. When Negligent Entrustment Does Not Apply
• Additional Reading

1. Elements of Negligent Entrustment

For you to win a negligent entrustment trial in Nevada, you would need to prove the following four elements by a preponderance of the evidence:

1. The defendant left a potentially dangerous object, such as an automobile or firearm, in the care of another person;
2. The defendant knew or should have known that the person was inexperienced and/or incompetent to use the object in a safe fashion;
3. The person entrusted with the object used it negligently and thereby harmed another; and
4. As a result of the other person’s actions, you (the plaintiff) suffered damages.¹

In practice, the majority of these cases settle out of court without a trial.

2. Car Accident Cases

In Nevada, negligent entrustment commonly arises in motor vehicle accident cases. Often, it is when someone gets injured by a minor child driving their parent’s car, truck or motorcycle.

The entrusting person need not have known that child would drive on a public roadway. In fact, the parent may even have expressly instructed the child not to drive on a public road.

In this way, negligent entrustment is different from the concept of “agency.” Many times, the entrustee acts in ways the entrustor never authorized.²

Does car insurance cover negligent entrustment accidents?

Yes. Nevada liability insurance policies cover accidents caused by not only the named drivers but also:

• anyone the policyholders gave express or implied permission to drive the cars (such as friends, family, valet drivers, etc.); and
• the insured’s own children, even if the policy expressly excludes them.

3. When Negligent Entrustment Does Not Apply

Negligent entrustment is inapplicable to cases where there was no negligence. For example:

George speeds down the Las Vegas Strip and crashes his rental car into Harry, who sustains $60,000 worth of damages. George’s insurance covers only half. To get the other half, Harry wants to go after the rental company for negligently entrusting the rental car to George.

However, the rental company did not act negligently by renting to George, who had a clean driving record and a current and valid driver’s license. Unless Harry can find another legal ground to sue the rental company for, Harry has no choice but to settle for the $30,000 and possibly sue George personally for the rest.

Additional Reading

For more in-depth information, refer to these scholarly articles:

• Negligent Entrustment of Automobiles – Houston Law Review.
• Negligent Entrustment: Evaluation of a Frequently Overlooked Source of Additional Liability – Arkansas Law Review.
• Negligent Hiring and Negligent Entrustment: The Case against Exclusion – Oregon Law Review.
• Liability for Negligent Entrustment of a Motor Vehicle – South Texas Law Journal.
• Torts: Does the Negligent Entrustment Doctrine Apply to Sellers – University of Florida Law Review.

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