No Respondeat Superior For Acts Of Independent Contractor.

A production company hired a medical doctor as its performer’s personal physician for a concert tour. The performer died of acute intoxication by drug while under the doctor’s care. The performer’s family sued the production company for negligent hiring, retention and supervision of the doctor. The trial court granted summary adjudication for negligence and respondeat superior, and a jury found the doctor was not unfit or incompetent to perform the work for which he was hired. On appeal, the performer’s family argued the trial court erred in granting summary adjudication. The appellate court affirmed, stating the production company did not owe the performer a duty to refrain from exerting pressure over the doctor to keep the performer healthy so he could finish the tour, the doctor was an independent contractor as a matter of law, the production company was not liable under the peculiar risk doctrine and the doctor was not an agent of the production company. (Jackson v. AEG Live, LLC (Cal. App. Second Dist., Div. 5; January 30, 2015) 233 Cal.App.4th 1156, [183 Cal.Rptr.3d 394].)