Agency Relationships and Vicarious Liability
Published .
The general concept
An agency relationship exists when one person or organization acts for another with authority or permission. The agent may be an employee, an independent contractor, or another representative. The label in a contract is relevant, but it does not always decide the legal relationship. Courts look at the actual arrangement, including who selected the person, controlled the work, and held the person out to others.
How Maryland applies it
A principal may be responsible for an agent’s tort when the agent acted within the scope of the agency. This is vicarious liability: responsibility based on the relationship, even if the principal did not personally commit the careless act. A principal may also face direct liability for its own negligent hiring, training, supervision, or policies. In a medical setting, apparent agency may matter when a patient reasonably understands a clinician to be acting for a hospital or other provider and relies on that appearance in accepting care. Maryland requires evidence of the patient’s belief, its objective reasonableness, and reliance; the clinician’s presence at a facility alone does not establish agency. The distinction matters because it identifies which people or organizations may be responsible and what evidence must be gathered.
Related Maryland Cases and Authorities
Williams v. Dimensions Health Corp., 480 Md. 24 (2022).; Bradford v. Jai Medical Systems Managed Care Organization, Inc., 439 Md. 15 (2014).; Women First OB/GYN Associates, L.L.C. v. Harris, 232 Md. App. 647 (2017).