Barton V. Whataburger, Case Study Example

Issue

The underlying issue in this case is under what circumstances an employer can be held responsible for an employee’s criminal conduct. In the case, a Whataburger employee was murdered during the course of robbery attempt at the restaurant. Facts in the case implicated one of the restaurant’s managers to the crime and the victim’s family attempted to argue that the restaurant owners were negligent in the hiring of the manager because he had a prior criminal record. The issue for the court was whether the manager’s prior criminal record was foreseeable and a contributing factor in the victim’s death.

Ruling

The court ruled that although Whataburger had a duty to its victim-employee such duty only extended to foreseeable harm. The criminal acts of others are a superseding event and not foreseeable and Whataburger had no legal duty to protect its employee from the criminal acts of a third person.

Application

The Court did not disregard the fact that Whataburger failed to verify the manager’s background only that such failure was not a contributing factor in the murder of the victim. The Court recognized that Whataburger could have been held liable in the event that the background check had revealed that the manager had violent tendencies but, lacking such information, the actions of criminals superseded any failure by Whataburger to thoroughly investigate the manager’s background.

ConclusionThe events leading to the death of the victim were tragic but were due to extraordinary circumstances and not the negligence of Whataburger.