Section 20 Missouri Cases Holding That Facts Established Vicarious Liability or Created a Jury Question Regarding it

• Library: Employer-Employee Law 2008

In Mansfield v. Smithie, 615 S.W.2d 649 (Mo. App. S.D. 1981), the court affirmed judgment on a jury verdict for assault. The defendants were a nightclub, its husband-and-wife owners, and an individual whose status as a nightclub employee was disputed, though he had previously worked for it as a bartender, bouncer, and general helper. The court provided the following summary of the plaintiff’s testimony at trial, which supported liability of the nightclub and its owners for this individual’s assault on the plaintiff, a nightclub patron:

During the evening, the plaintiff observed that a patron had pulled a gun and stuck it in another man’s face. The peace officer who was there at the time left. When another officer arrived, the plaintiff spoke to him. When the plaintiff and his party were ready to leave, Smithie asked to speak to him in the poolroom. He followed Smithie . . . and Tommy Hyde into the poolroom. There the plaintiff was told to be seated and he was interrogated about why he had called the law. When he denied doing so, defendant Smithie hit him in the face several times with brass knuckles. Plaintiff stated he did not try to defend himself because of his fear of Tommy Hyde. When Tommy Hyde said, “that’s enough, let him go”, the plaintiff started out. But Smithie hit him again and Tommy Hyde said, “I said that is enough, Bill.” The plaintiff then left and was taken to the hospital. A friend of the plaintiff witnessed and corroborated a part of the assault.

Mansfield, 615 S.W.2d at 652.

The court in...