A rental company leases a forklift to a construction company, whose unlicensed and untrained operator causes another worker's injury. The injured worker sues the rental company, saying it negligently entrusted the forklift to the operator without determining if the operator was qualified to operate the forklift. Thankfully, the Massachusetts Appeals Court refused to establish a new standard for rental companies, although there was a dissenting opinion that suggested quite the contrary. The case is Vintimilla v. National Lumber Company, Mass. App. Ct. No. 12-P-1101 (Nov. 6, 2013).
The lease agreement from National Lumber required Vermont Construction to "use the equipment in a careful and proper manner and . . . comply with all national, state, municipal, police and other laws, ordinances and regulations." National Lumber made no inquiry as to whether Vermont Construction had the requisite licenses or training. It provided an instruction manual with the forklift, but did not provide any training. The forklift operator had no license to operate the forklift (required by Massachusetts law), nor had he received any training. On the facts of the lease agreement, the lower court had issued summary judgment in favor of National Lumber and against the injured worker.
The appellate court held that the lease agreement shifted responsibility for safety compliance from National Lumber to Vermont Construction. Thus, the court stated, "we see no basis for imposing a duty of care running from [National Lumber] beyond [Vermont Construction], and, indeed, doing so may result in unintended litigation. Nor do we see any basis for requiring, as the dissent urges, that National Lumber check whether Vermont Construction possessed a hoisting license." So one state's court has decided not to extend the duty of care to rental companies, to require verification of licensure by those renting equipment. That decision leaves the duty of licensed, safe operation on the operator, and not the rental company.
The dissenting justice stated his opinion that "National Lumber had a duty to determine whether Vermont Construction or someone acting on its behalf had a hoisting license before delivering a dangerous instrumentality such as a forklift." That justice would rule, since the potential harm was foreseeable, that the duty of National Lumber to perform a license check would not be unfair or unjust. The dissent concludes: "When, as in this case, a value judgment has been made by the Legislature about the importance of a proper license before a dangerous machine like a forklift is operated, and the record before the court indicates that the burden of requiring an owner and commercial lessor like National Lumber to check for a license before turning a forklift over to a lessee is modest, recognition of such a duty of care is both just and in keeping with the common law tradition of incremental growth for the good of the community." I suggest otherwise.
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