Robertson v. LeMaster
301 S.E.2d 563 · West Virginia Supreme Court · 1983
Facts
Tony LeMaster, a railway employee, worked approximately 27 hours straight at a derailment site for Norfolk & Western Railway. Despite repeated requests to go home due to exhaustion, he was made to continue working. The railway then sent him home in his own car, 50 miles away, without providing rest or transportation, unlike other employees. LeMaster subsequently fell asleep at the wheel and caused an accident, injuring the Robertsons.
Issue
Did the employer, Norfolk & Western Railway, owe a duty of care to third-party motorists, and was its conduct in requiring an employee to work excessive hours and then sending him home exhausted the proximate cause of an accident involving that employee?
Holding
The trial court erred in granting a directed verdict for the employer. The court held that the employer could have reasonably foreseen that its exhausted employee would pose a risk of harm to other motorists, establishing a duty of care. The question of whether the employee's negligence was an intervening cause breaking the chain of causation is a question for the jury.
Rule
An employer may owe a duty of care to third parties when its affirmative conduct, such as requiring an employee to work excessively long hours and then sending them home in an obviously exhausted condition, creates a foreseeable and unreasonable risk of harm to others. The foreseeability of risk is a primary consideration in establishing duty, and an intervening cause does not relieve liability if it is reasonably anticipated.
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