WHO IS LIABLE WHEN THE SERVICE TECH COMES BACK LATER TO STEAL, RAPE AND MURDER?

A major retail provider hires an outside contractor to install a particular device in a home. The contractor hires a sub-contractor as an independent contractor and sends that person to the home to do the actual installation. During the installation the sub-contractor had time to “case out” the home. The sub-contractor learned of the personal property and where it was located. The sub-contractor also learned about the individuals who live in the home and about their comings and goings. Three (3) days after a proper installation was performed the sub-contractor installer came back to the home with one of his buddies who was recently released from prison and brutally raped and murdered the woman resident, and took her credits cards as well.

The question arises as to legal responsibility for the rape, death and theft. Is the retailer responsible for damages for hiring the contractor? Is the contractor responsible for the damages for hiring the sub-contractor? Is the sub-contractor responsible for damages for performing the acts of violence? Obviously, the sub-contractor is has liability. All parties are likely to be sued. Generally, in a situation like this, the courts will look to whether the sub-contractor was in the “scope of responsibility” when the assault, death and theft took place. In this situation it would seem that the retailer and contractor would have no responsibility, since the damages occurred the three days outside of the scope of responsibility. However, pursuant to the reasoning in the recent Texas Supreme Court case involving Kirby Vacuums, the general rule has been turned upside down. The issue goes to the fact that but for the well known name of the retailer and the work that had to be preformed for the retailer’s customer, the sub-contractor would have never been in the customer’s home in the first place. The name of the retailer itself created a sense of security that gave the perspective customer confidence to let the representative in the home. Therefore the damages are to a great degree a result of the trusted name of the retailer. Since the retailer’s name has been branded to instill trust, then to a great extent the retailer cannot escape liability for its agent, regardless that they were a contractor, a contractor’s employee, a sub-contractor, an independent contractor or some other type of agent of the retailer. Hence the question goes back to one of negligent hiring. Here are the questions the retailer must properly answer and implement to build a wall of liability protection between its agents and its customers:

• Did the retailer perform a criminal background investigation on the contractor?
• Did the retailer require the contractor to perform a criminal background investigation on its employee, sub-contractor, independent contractor or agent who did the work?
• Does the retailer have a system in place to the best of the retailer’s ability to track the service tech who ultimately performed the service work?
• Do the retailer and contractor have a system in place to notify the customer as to who is going to be doing the work and to provide the customer a system to verify that service tech’s criminal background by quick internet access?
• Does the retailer, through its system of tracking and verification, educate the customer to look for the identification badge and photograph of that same service tech before allowing that service tech to enter the home?

This is a simple, but necessary, system. All retailers who send contractors and/or contractor employees, sub-contractors, independent contractors and/or agents into homes of their customers, must be aware of their responsibilities to perform criminal background investigations on the individuals going into their customer’s homes. A simple background check or search, with or without a system of tracking in place, or without a verification system and customer education in place, will not protect the retailer from liability.

Only in this way can retailers build up a wall of liability protection between their contractors, their contractor’s employees and their customers. Furthermore, retailers utilizing such an integrated liability protection system can build greater peace of mind by meeting the standards of doing the best they reasonable can to protect their customer from individuals who may have propensities to cause harm or damage.

About The Author:

J. Denton (Denny) Dobbins is Nationally and Internationally recognized as the world’s leader in Premises Liability Protection and has been featured across North America sharing the stage with Political Leaders, Police Celebrities, Administrators and Business Leaders. Since 1978, Denny has been involved with the detection and deterrence of Criminal Activity in properties and employment of all types.

HOW TO BUILD A WALL OF LIABILITY PROTECTION BETWEEN RETAILERS AND CONTRACTORS

A retailer hires a contractor, who then hires a sub-contractor, independent contractor or agent to service or install something for the retailer’s customer. Who is going to be liable for damages caused by that contractor, contractor’s employee, independent contractor or contractor’s agent? Everyone gets sued to start with, and the litigation process begins; interrogatories, depositions, experts and money going down a black hole. How does the retailer protect itself from the negligent and criminal acts of its contractor, sub-contractor, independent contractor or other agents that service its customers?

Here are the keys to limiting your liability as a retailer:

1) Require any person who is representing your company, no matter how far down the chain, to have a criminal background investigation preformed by a private investigator that obtains information directly from federal, state, and county courts;

2) Implement a tracking system in place for anyone that actually goes into the home or business of a customer for installation or service;

3) Mandate that all service techs have undergone proper criminal investigation;

4) Implement a notification system for the customer as to when the service tech will be at the home or office;

5) Provide the customer a photo showing what the service tech looks like prior to the appointment;

6) Provide the service tech a photo id badge that the service tech must openly wear to the appointment;

7) Provide the customer with information about what to look for when the service tech arrives at the home or office;

8) Provide the customer a simple computer verification system that proves that no criminal history has been found on service tech;

9) Do not use or allow your contractors to use instant background services to perform a background investigation, rather only through private investigators;

10) Do not use any screening company that only uses its own data sources, or only information that it buys from other companies, or performs a simple check or search. The cost of a real investigation with real-time, accurate, and relevant information should cost between $50.00-$100.00.

Only when you apply these principles in your screening and management processes will you effectively be able to limit or avoid liability and place it where it belongs.

About The Author:

J. Denton (Denny) Dobbins is Nationally and Internationally recognized as the world’s leader in Premises Liability Protection and has been featured across North America sharing the stage with Political Leaders, Police Celebrities, Administrators and Business Leaders. Since 1978, Denny has been involved with the detection and deterrence of Criminal Activity in properties and employment of all types.

Beware of Trusting Screening Companies – It Could be Your Law Suit Too

In order to protect customers from home service providers and repairmen where should criminal background information be obtained and how extensive should it be?

That is a long but pointed question. In the United States almost anybody can become a criminal background company overnight. With a few dollars I can purchase a 38 (Thirty-Eight) State database and call myself a National Screening Company. This is really very scary. Then I could start marketing my National Screening Company, and depending on how good my marketing skill were, I could start bringing in business and making money with no experience, no education and no integrity. Here’s the key: If the screening company you are using is not obtaining actual disposition (conviction) records on employees from the federal, state and county courts, and doing it themselves with licensed private investigators, the information cannot be trusted.

All it takes is one lawsuit for negligent hiring, and the company who hired the service provider with a prior record will likely get hit for damages. Additionally, the screening company will likely get sued, if they did not meet the negligence standards for research in obtaining relevant, accurate, timely, real-time information directly from the courts. Simply keeping information in a data base, in an office, stored on a server somewhere, is simply not good enough to avoid liability. Things change within the courts on a day-to-day basis. Court clerks update information as events take place in the court. The company can have their own database of information they have compiled, but unless the company is looking at court records on a daily basis for every applicant that comes through their private investigators hands, it simply not good enough to avoid liability.

Therefore, ensure that criminal background investigation company you hire does it right the first time. Remember there are a million attorneys in the United States looking for a job. Don’t get sucked into the legal money pit for having hired the wrong criminal investigation screening company.

About The Author:

J. Denton (Denny) Dobbins is Nationally and Internationally recognized as the world’s leader in Premises Liability Protection and has been featured across North America sharing the stage with Political Leaders, Police Celebrities, Administrators and Business Leaders. Since 1978, Denny has been involved with the detection and deterrence of Criminal Activity in properties and employment of all types.