She Acted Outside The Course And Scope Of Her Employment? C’mon . . . How Can You Say That?

A staffing company assigned one of its employees to work as a medical assistant at a customer’s facility, and the medical assistant poisoned a coworker. According to the allegations, the medical assistant and the coworker had some sort of disagreement about how to stock supplies. Sometime later, the coworker drank from her water bottle and her tongue and throat started to burn and she vomited. The medical assistant admitted she poured carbolic acid into the water bottle, which acid she found in an examining room. The coworker brought an action against the staffing company for negligence, battery and other torts under a theory of respondeat superior. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the staffing company. The appellate court affirmed, concluding the employee acted outside the course and scope of her employment. (Montague v. AMN Healthcare, Inc. (Cal. App. Fourth Dist., Div. 1; February 21, 2014) (As Mod. March 13, 2014) 223 Cal.App.4th 1515, [168 Cal.Rptr.3d 123].)