Robertson v. LeMaster
301 S.E.2d 563 · West Virginia Supreme Court · 1983
Facts
Tony LeMaster, an employee of Norfolk & Western Railway, was forced to work approximately 27 hours straight at a derailment site. Despite repeated requests to go home due to exhaustion, his employer eventually allowed him to leave but provided no rest facilities or transportation home, instead driving him to his car 25 miles away. LeMaster then fell asleep at the wheel while driving home, causing an accident that injured the Robertsons.
Issue
Did the railway company owe a duty of care to third-party motorists, and was its conduct the proximate cause of the accident, when it required an employee to work excessively long hours and then sent him home in an exhausted state?
Holding
The appellate court reversed the trial court's directed verdict, finding that the railway company could have reasonably foreseen that its exhausted employee would pose a risk of harm to others. The court held that questions of duty and proximate cause should have been submitted to the jury.
Rule
An actor has a duty to exercise reasonable care to prevent harm when their affirmative conduct creates a foreseeable, unreasonable risk of harm to others. An intervening cause does not relieve a defendant of liability if it is a reasonably anticipated consequence of the defendant's original negligence.
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