Stockwell v. Morris

Summary

The Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed a directed verdict in favor of the Maytag Inter-mountain Company, holding that a principal is not vicariously liable for the negligent driving of its commission salesman who used his own automobile, because the principal had no right, express or fairly implied, to control the physical details of the car's operation. Adopting the right-of-control test and the Restatement's distinction between servants and agents, the court treated the salesman as in the nature of an independent contractor as to the means of transportation. Liability attaches, the court announced, only where the employer may control the physical movements by which the work is done, not merely the results to be achieved. No separate writings were filed.