UNIT 1 LAW 307 HOMEWORK
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American Military University *
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307
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Law
Date
Jan 9, 2024
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Uploaded by ProfessorRam11604
Agents have certain relations they must follow and owe certain duties and obligations to
their principals. “An agent who is compensated owes a duty to perform to the principal. A
compensated agent who does not perform may be held liable for breach of contract.” “An
uncompensated agent generally does not owe a duty to perform, but once the uncompensated
agent undertakes to perform, the agent may be subject to tort liability for underperformance.” Let
us direct our attention to a case I viewed. Equilease Corp. v. Neff Towing Service, Inc. Equilease
Corp, headquarters in New York City, a business of owning and leasing heavy equipment, leased
four 1979 utility refrigerated trailers and a Kenworth truck tractor to James Otto of Omaha,
Nebraska. Otto defaulted on payments and the whereabouts of the equipment became unknown.
In July 1980 Equilease sought legal services from Douglas Quin law firm of Thompson,
Crounse, and Pieper, of Omaha, Nebraska to recover their trailers. Equilease gave Quinn the
authority to take whatever steps necessary to recover his trailers. Quinn ended up hiring James
McCann of Omaha, Nebraska who specializes in reprocessing cars to locate equipment.
In this case, it was a lot of confusion, however, Equilease bringing a replevin suit upon
Neff Towing was the wrong action as they were not the agent and Douglas Quinn was who
should have had the judgment brought upon him. Especially during the court proceedings when
he claimed he had no recollection of James McCann contacting him when he found two trailers
on 17 and 20 July 1980 nearby Council Bluffs, Iowa, where he contacted Neff Towing to have
them placed in Omaha storage. It was negligence on his end to not inform Equilease when
McCann had since he was hired as a subagent, “A person appointed by an agent to perform some
or all of the business relating to his agency.” By Quinn. The bigger issue is that Equilease hired
McCann in 1980 to locate and repossess some of their vehicles before and McCann has used
Neff Towing before during the process. I am sure Equilease was aware of this, however, felt Neff
Towing was at fault.
Quinn instructed McCann to perform ministerial acts and duties as his subagent for the
necessary towing and storage of the trailers. The judgment of the trial court was not wrong and
was affirmed. Equilease was charged with the value of the services performed by Neff Towing.
Also, any damages and inconveniences to Equilease were from the lack of responsibility and
communication between the agent (Douglas Quinn) and principal (Equilease) which was not an
issue in the case. “If the agent is acting on behalf of a principal but fails to disclose her agency
status, it may subject her to liability to the third party. In some cases, it may also serve to bind
the principal once the agency relationship is determined.
Note
:
If the agent goes beyond her
express authority, she may be liable to the principal for any obligations binding the principal to
third parties. That is, the principal may be able to recover damages suffered because of the agent
exceeding her authority.” With this information, the court ruled in favor of Neff Towing, it
showed a lack of insight on Equilease end to see Douglas Quinn should have been the defendant
in this case because he didn’t upkeep his part.
Reference
Schneeman, A. (2013). Law of Corporations and other business organization (6
th
ed). Boston,
MA: Cengage Learning, P. 14.
https://ambassadored.vitalsource.com/reader/books/9781285401768/pageid/53
Equilease Corp. v. Neff Towing Service, Inc.
, 227 Neb. 523, 418 N.W.2d 754 (Neb. 1988)
Gordon, J. (2021, September 24).
When is an Agent Liable for Actions Taken for the
Principal?
Https://thebusinessprofessor.com/.
https://thebusinessprofessor.com/en_US/agency-
law/agent-liability-to-third-parties
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