Superior Court Reviews Vicarious Liability of Domino's In MVA Case, And Whether Trial Court Decision on MSJ Remains Reviewable on Appeal After Entry of Verdict

In the case of Coryell v. Morris, No. 1977 EDA 2021 (Pa. Super. Jan. 31, 2025) (en banc) (Op. by Bowes, J.), the Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled that a Domino’s franchise relationship with the delivery driver’s employer created grounds for the pizza chain to be bound vicariously liable for the driver’s negligence during the course of a motor vehicle accident.

Some litigators viewed the court’s analysis in this case as setting up a framework for establishing a franchiser’s vicarious liability in cases involving alleged negligence on the part of a franchisee.

In this decision, the Superior Court found that there was sufficient evidence in the records to show that the franchiser exercised sufficient control over the franchisee to support the finding of vicarious liability.

Also of note was the fact that the Superior Court ruled that a jury’s resolution of the factual issues presented in the case, which involve, in part, factual disputes regarding Domino’s control over the franchisee, such findings by the jury rendered the propriety of the trial court’s summary judgment ruling moot. More specifically, the Superior Court in this case ruled that “[a] trial court’s denial of a fact-dependent pre-trial [motion for summary judgment] is not reviewable when the issue was subsequently resolved at trial.”

It is noted that, in the Dissenting Opinion, Judge King noted that the Superior Court should have decided that it remained capable of reviewing the trial court's denial of the pre-trial Motion for Summary Judgment given the confusion in the caselaw surrounding the issue at the time the trial court ruled on the motion.   

In the end, the Superior Court’s ruling in this case rendered Domino’s Pizza again responsible, at least in part, for the $2.3 million dollar judgment awarded to the Plaintiff motorcyclist who was struck by a Domino’s Pizza delivery driver’s vehicle.

Anyone wishing to review a copy of this decision may click this LINK.  The Dissenting Opinion by Judge King can be viewed HERE.

Source: “Pa. Superior Court Rules Pizza Chain Liable For Franchisee Driver’s Crash” by Aleza Furman of the Legal Intelligencer (Feb. 4, 2025).