## Facts

- A tractor-trailer rear-ended a stopped car at a red light in North Plainfield, New Jersey, after running the light, killing Kevin and Alecia Puckrein and seriously injuring Alecia’s mother, Jean Graeves.
- The tractor-trailer had seriously defective brakes and was unregistered and uninsured at the time of the crash.
- ATI Transport, Inc. owned the tractor-trailer; the driver was Gaizka Idoeta.
- The truck was hauling glass residue from a Brooklyn waste facility to an incinerator in Newark, New Jersey.
- Browning-Ferris Industries of New York, Inc. (BFI-NY) hired World Carting Corp. to haul materials; the agreement required World Carting to supply equipment and insurance and barred subcontracting without written approval.
- World Carting nevertheless used ATI to perform the hauling; ATI and World Carting were closely intertwined under common ownership/control.
- Following the crash, the driver and owner-related parties received citations and criminal charges tied to unsafe, uninsured, and unregistered operation; plaintiffs later obtained judgments against non-BFI defendants who were unable to satisfy them.

## Issues

1. Whether a principal that hires an independent contractor for highway hauling can be liable for negligent selection when the contractor’s equipment is unregistered, uninsured, and unsafe.
2. Whether the record created triable fact disputes about the principal’s knowledge and the reasonableness of its inquiry, making summary judgment improper.

## Decision

- The New Jersey Supreme Court reversed the grant of summary judgment to BFI-NY, reinstated the complaint against BFI-NY, and remanded.
- The court held a factfinder could conclude BFI-NY failed to use reasonable care in selecting/using a competent hauler able to operate lawfully on public highways.
- The court rejected the view that lack of registration or insurance is merely a financial or administrative defect unrelated to competence in highway hauling.
- The court found the case turned on negligent selection of an incompetent contractor, not on a retained-control theory.

## Legal Principles

- A principal is generally not vicariously liable for an independent contractor’s negligence, but liability may arise if the principal negligently selects or retains an incompetent contractor.
- To establish negligent selection, a plaintiff must show: (1) the contractor was incompetent for the work, (2) the harm resulted from that incompetence, and (3) the principal knew or should have known of the incompetence through reasonable care.
- In highway transportation, “competence” includes basic legal fitness to operate: valid registration, adequate liability insurance, and safe, roadworthy equipment.
- When a principal’s business substantially depends on hauling on public roads, reasonable care includes making at least a minimal inquiry into the contractor’s compliance with these legal and safety prerequisites.
- Summary judgment is improper when reasonable factfinders could differ on the contractor’s competence and on whether the principal’s investigation and knowledge were reasonable under the circumstances.

## Conclusion

The court held that a company that relies on independent truckers for highway hauling may face negligent-selection liability when it fails to reasonably verify that the carrier can operate legally and safely (including insurance, registration, and roadworthiness), and it restored claims against the hiring company for trial because the record supported competing inferences on those points.


Puckrein v. ATI Transp., Inc., 186 N.J. 563, 897 A.2d 1034 (N.J. 2006)