Respondeat Superior: Its Meaning & How it Impacts Your Liability

If you have been sued for liability for which an agent or representative managed your affairs, you may find there are some legal terms and phrases you are unfamiliar with. To effectively play an active role in your defense of any type of lawsuit, it is important to become educated in the legal terms as well as the legal processes.

A term that is often used in litigation, in which you are named as a principal with an agent misrepresentation, is a phrase known as "Respondeat Superior". In the litigation processes, this term simply means "let the master answer". In other words, the term is referring to the request of the court that you answer for any liability you may have even when you had an agent acting on your behalf.

Respondeat Superior is a term that has been used for many years and implies the litigation wishes that you answer on your own behalf for any vicarious liability you may have sustained in response to the actions of your agent or representative. If your agent acts in such a way that is not deemed legal, or involves intentional tort, you may be vicariously liable but using this phrase of "Respondeat Superior" does not mean your agent is relieved any liability in the matter.

There are some situations in which you may not perceive yourself as the principal in a case where you are being sued, and may question why the phrase "Respondeat Superior" is used in reference to you. This is often an assumption made in litigation when you feel as if you had no control over the actions of the person, or entity, or served as your agent. In situations where you feel that you did not have control, the mere fact that you delegated a responsibility to another individuals, or entity, may constitute a principal-to-agent relationship and, ultimately, you can be named in a lawsuit under the "Respondeat Superior" phrase.

From employment to real estate to investment opportunities, the lawsuits affecting principal and agent relationships continue every day. In many circumstances, individuals who are seemingly unfamiliar with the legal ramification of using an agent will find they are suffering from accusations of intentional tort and vicarious liability because of an act someone else may have done. If any part of that act, by a third party, is in some way of benefit to you, this can be deemed, in a lawsuit, as a principal-to-agent relationship and ultimately you are then named as the Respondeat Superior.

Even in cases of dismissal the mere allegation and placement of lawsuit poses may anxieties and stresses upon those who are required to defend themselves. Civil lawsuits continue to overwhelm our court systems and, oftentimes, lawsuits are filled with named defendant, of which you may become one of them. If you are named as the "Respondeat Superior", this simply means you are alleged as potentially carrying some liability for the actions an agent or other third party performed on your behalf.