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Davis V. Dona County

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Davis vs. Doña Ana County 2 What was the legal issue in this case? There are three legal issues in this case that were found, which are negligent hiring, negligent referral and foreseeability. Negligent hiring is defined as “it extends the liability of employers for harm caused by their employees beyond actions undertaken within the scope of employment to harmful actions that lie outside the scope of employment” (Walsh, 2010, p.132). Even though Mesilla Valley Hospital is not being sued, they exercised negligence in hiring Herrera because they failed to do more extensive research when looking to hire Herrera, instead of going off of a basic recommendation letter. I believe that in certain work environments that involve the care for others, the patients have a due diligence that is owed to them that they will always be protected and cared for by their caretakers. Herrera took advantage of not only Davis, but also the inmates in Doña Ana County, which unfortunately can ruin the victim’s lives. As stated in the textbook, negligent referral is defined as “a former employer’s misrepresentation about an employee in giving a reference…” (Walsh, 2010, p.677). Frank Steele, Doña Ana County’s director blatantly showed negligence when after scheduling a hearing for Herrera’s behavior and Herrera resigning, he submitted a recommendation letter on behalf of Herrera giving nothing but praise to his work ethics. The final legal issue is foreseeability that is defined as “the likelihood that a reasonable person of average intelligence would be able to foresee that hiring an unfit person for a particular position would render injury or harm to others” (Walsh, 2010, p.672). By this definition, Davis has a strong case against Doña Ana County because Steele and Al Mochen knew of Herrera’s behavior in the past, however they still submitted

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