Unless required by or under the authority of law to employ that particular agent, a principal is responsible to third persons for the negligence of his agent in the transaction of the business of the agency, including wrongful acts committed by such agent in and as a part of the transaction of such business, and for his willful omission to fulfill the obligations of the principal.
Cal. Civ. Code § 2338
Mutual Obligations of Principals and Third Persons
Applied in 86 court decisions — leading case 22 Cal. 3d 718 - Stout v. Turney (1978)
Most recently applied in 241 Cal. Rptr. 3d 678 - Moreno v. Visser Ranch, Inc. (December 2018)
Enacted 1872.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: California Legislative Information. Reproduced from public-domain California statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.