Personal Injury Law

An issue of vehicle ownership and negligent entrustment

By John Inserra

The Nebraska Supreme court cleared up the issue of ownership requirements and the negligent entrustment of a vehicle involved in a motor vehicle accident in the case of Richard A. DeWester, Personal Representative of the
Estate of Lindsay DeWester, deceased, appellant, v. Kyle W. Watkins, an individual, appellee.

In a nutshell, the Court held:

Based on the Restatement's reasoning, most courts have
framed the relevant issue in a negligent entrustment case as
whether the defendant in a negligent entrustment action had the
right to control the entrusted property, with ownership simply
being one way of proving a right to control. As the Illinois
Supreme Court explained, "entrustment must be defined with
reference to the right of control of the subject property. In
essence, if the actor does not have an exclusive or superior
right of control, no entrustment of the property can occur."16 A
right to control does not always mean ownership, but generally
means that the defendant must have a greater right of possession
or control than the entrustee.

Full post as published by Omaha Personal Injury Lawyer on February 29, 2008 (boomark / email).