Negligent entrustment is a tort predicated upon a party permitting the use of a dangerous instrumentality by another, where the potential for misuse by that person is foreseeable and where such misuse results in injury to a third party. In Hamilton v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp., 96 N.Y.2d 222, 237, 727 N.Y.S.2d 7 (2001), the Court of Appeals articulated the broad principle underlying this tort in stating: “The tort of negligent entrustment is based on the degree of knowledge the supplier of a chattel has or should have concerning the entrustee’s propensity to use the chattel in an improper or dangerous fashion.”
In this column, we address the concept of negligent entrustment specifically as it applies to vehicles. Under common law principles, the owner of a vehicle who permits its use by an incompetent or unfit person, knowing or having reason to know that such driver was unfit to drive, may be held liable for the negligent acts of the driver.
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