Anicich v. Home Depot U.S.A.

Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Negligent Hiring
Citation
Case Number: 
No. 16-1693
Decision Date: 
March 24, 2017
Federal District: 
N.D. Ill., E. Div.
Holding: 
Reversed and remanded

Dist. Ct. erred in granting defendants-joint employers’ motion to dismiss plaintiff-estate of employee’s complaint alleging that defendants were negligent in hiring employee’s supervisor, who had verbally abused employee, made sexual advances towards her at workplace, threatened her with loss of her job if she did not accompany him on personal out-of-town trip, and then killed and raped her on said trip. While Dist. Ct. agreed with defendants that they did not owe duty of care to employee for supervisor’s criminal acts against employee, Ct. of Appeals found that there was triable issue as to whether it was foreseeable that supervisor would harm employee given his prior pattern of conduct against her. Fact that supervisor had never made explicit threat to employee or inflicted physical harm on her prior to fatal attack, that attack took place outside of workplace, or that supervisor committed instant intentional tort outside scope of employment did not require different result.