Motor Vehicle Negligence – Hit by car, plaintiff argues respondeat superior liability against employer

Injuries alleged: Traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage and subdural hemorrhage with loss of consciousness, complicated mild TBI with intracranial hemorrhage, laceration to knee, left hip injury, PTSD, anxiety and depression

Name of mediator: Judge Johanna Fitzpatrick (Ret.)

Date resolved: Dec. 18, 2025

Special damages: Past medical: $122,507.55; lost wages: $108,037.63; life-care plan: $369,348.45

Amount: $2.1 million

Attorneys for plaintiff: Amy L. Bradley, Peter S. Everett and M. Barkley Horn, Fairfax, Blankingship & Keith

Case description: The plaintiff, a 66-year-old federal employee, was run over in a crosswalk by a driver who told the investigating officer that he was in town for work and had just dropped someone off in the nearby neighborhood. The driver was operating a rental vehicle procured under a contract between a rental company and his employer at the time he struck the plaintiff.

The plaintiff sustained a traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage and due to her brain injury was unable to ever return to her job. Prior to her injury, the plaintiff was an avid world traveler who enjoyed planning and organizing trips for herself and her entire family.

The plaintiff claimed that the driver who struck her failed to pay proper attention, and he pled nolo contendere, essentially establishing negligence. The principal legal issue entailed the plaintiff’s claim that the driver struck her during the course and scope of his employment with a major transnational corporation, subjecting the company to liability under respondeat superior.

The defendants strongly contested respondeat superior liability, arguing that the employee’s workday had ended and the driver was therefore not within the scope of his employment at the time of the crash.

Extensive discovery revealed that the driver had just dropped off his co-worker in the neighborhood where he struck the plaintiff after attending an “all-hands” meeting hosted by his employer at an Arlington County bar. The driver’s supervisor had requested that the driver take the co-worker home on his way back to the hotel where he was staying during the business trip. Further discovery showed that the driver, upon returning to his hotel, continued his workday by sending emails as late as 11 p.m. that same night.

The plaintiff’s injuries required continuous treatment from physicians, a neurologist, physical therapist, cognitive speech therapists, ophthalmologist, a neuro optometrist, a psychiatrist, a neuropsychiatrist and a podiatrist. The plaintiff was medically disqualified from driving for 10 months after being hit. She also took early retirement because she was cognitively unable to return to work.