Restatement Update
ALI circulates draft of restatement
The American Law Institute (ALI) Restatement of the Law Agency tentative draft No. 2, March 14, 2001, was recently circulated to members of ALI. There will be discussion about the draft at the meetings, held between May 14 and 17, at the Institute.
The Agency project affects concepts of vicarious liability, respondeat superior and other questions of financial responsibility that are crucial to trial lawyers. For example, the section concerning creation of apparent agency, Section 3.03, indicates that apparent authority is created “by a person’s manifestation that another has authority to act with legal consequences for the person who makes the manifestation, if the third party reasonably believes the act to be authorized and the belief is traceable to the manifestation.” The addition of “legal consequences” is intended to make it more difficult for apparent authority to be created. This is very important in the hospital context, and generally, with regard to responsibility of principles for the conduct or failure to act on the part of their employees or agents.
All members of PaTLA may be interested in the project, and can obtain a copy of the draft from the Executive Office, American Law Institute, 4025 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19104-3099.
Anyone who has any thoughts, comments, or memoranda to circulate at the ALI meeting, contact President-Elect Cliff Rieders at 570-323-8711.###