On Monday, May 16, 2011 the American Law Institute adopted Chapter 10 of the Restatement of the Law Third, Torts: Liability for Physical and Emotional Harm.
Chapter 10 addresses liability, both direct and vicarious, of those who employ an independent contractor. It replaces Chapter 15 of the Prosser / Wade Restatement Second of Torts.
The Reporter for this effort is Ellen Pryor of Southern Methodist University.
One volume of Liability for Physical and Emotional Harm was published in 2010. It includes chapters on intent, negligence, strict liability and factual cause. The second and final volume of this subject will be published later this year and will include chapters on affirmative duties, emotional disturbance, responsibility of land possessors, and employers of independent contractors. This work was lead by the late Gary Schwartz of UCLA, Mike Green at Wake Forest University and Bill Powers of the University of Texas.
Work continues on Torts: Economic Torts and Related Wrongs, led by Ward Farnsworth of Boston University. The next meeting on this topic will be in September in Philadelphia.
I served on the Members Consultative Group on these projects and can assure you that the Reporters put tremendous effort into these works.
ALI publications can be purchased at www.ali.org.