Law for Business 10th Edition by James Barnes,Terry Dworkin,Eric Richards

Exercise 10

Victory Tabernacle Baptist Church hired Ladison, gave him keys that enabled him to lock and unlock all of the Church's doors, and entrusted him with duties that encouraged him to have frequent unsupervised contact with children. On numerous occasions during his employment, Ladison raped the plaintiff 's 10-year-old daughter, both at the Church and at other locations. The mother sued the Church for negligent hiring. She claimed that when the Church hired Ladison it knew or should have known that he had recently been convicted of aggravated sexual assault on a young girl, that he was on probation for that offense, and that a condition of his probation was that he not be involved with children. The Church argued that it could not be liable because the rapes did not occur within the scope of Ladison's employment. Will the Church escape liability because the rapes did not occur within the scope of Ladison's employment?