Florida Injury Attorney Blawg
Some states exempt charities from liability for damages caused by their servants. Florida does not. Nicholson v. Good Samaritan Hospital, 199 So. 344 (Fla. 1940). This is consistent with the legal doctrine known as respondeat superior, which holds employers liable for the negligent or purposeful acts of their employees. See Valeo v. East Coast Furniture Co., 95 So. 3d 921, 925 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012) (negligence of employee imputed to employer when employee “committed the negligent act: (1) within the scope of employment, or (2) during the course of employment and to further a purpose or interest of the employer.”). This liability, also known as vicarious liability, applies even if the employer has done nothing wrong.
Most jurisdictions, either by state or federal law, exempt volunteers from all liability for injuries caused by negligence. This is an exception to the general rule that employees are liable for their negligence.
Congress enacted the “Volunteer Protection Act of 1997”
“to promote the interests of social service program beneficiaries and taxpayers and to sustain the availability of programs, nonprofit organizations, and governmental entities that depend on volunteer contributions by reforming the laws to provide certain protections from liability abuses related to volunteers serving nonprofit organizations and governmental entities.”
The Act preempts state law unless the state law provides greater protections to volunteers. Interestingly, it also authorizes states to enact laws under certain prescribed circumstances allowing civil suits against volunteers. Section 3(b).