This сase involves an employer’s liability to third parties for the negligent driving of its employee while en route to the employee’s usual place of work in the employee’s personal vehicle. We must also determine whether the statutory cap on noneconomic damages, codified as Maryland Code (1974, 1989 Repl.Vol.) § 11-108 of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article, is to be applied separately to the claim of an injured spouse and a loss of consortium claim by the marital unit.
I.
On July 5,1989, Petitioner Willie James Oaks (Oaks) was on his way to work when he was involved in a motor vehicle accident with a van in which Anna Connors (Connors) was a passenger.
On July 5, Oaks was employed by Giant Food, Inc. (Giant) as an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) Sergeant in its Loss Prevention Department, a position he had held since April 17, 1989. His duties in that capacity varied, sometimes requiring him to stay at the corporation’s Jessup facility all day, and other times requiring him to proceed to various Giant stores to stand guard while ATM machines were being serviced. To fulfill this latter task, Giant required Oaks to have a personal vehicle, in good working order, available to use when travel was necessary. Giant did not supply or pay for the vehicle or for its maintenance, fuel, or repair. It also did not specify the type of vehicle to be used or the route to be taken to and from the Jessup facility.
Beginning April 17, Oaks reported to Jessup each day to receive his daily work assignment. At the time of the acci
On April 3, 1990, Respondents Anna and Herbert Connоrs (collectively, the Connorses) filed a Complaint against Oaks and Giant, alleging that the employee’s negligent operation of his motor vehicle caused the accident that injured Anna Connors. Connors sought damages for her individual personal injuries and she and her husband jointly claimed damage to their marital relationship. The case against Giant was based on its alleged respondeat superior liability for Oaks’ negligent driving in the course of his employment.
A jury trial was held in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County. At the close of the Connorses’ presentation of evidence, the court (Goudy, J.) granted Giant’s Motion for Judgment pursuant to Rule 2-519, finding that respondeat superior liability did not apply in this case.
The Connorses appealed from the judgment in favor of Giant and from the part of the judgment vacating their loss of consortium award. In Connors v. Oaks,
II.
The doctrine of respondeat superior, in Maryland, allows an employer to be held vicariously liable for the tortious conduct of its employee when that employee was acting within the scope of the employment relationship. Dhanraj v. Potomac Elec. Power Co.,
“[0]n account of the extensive use of the motor vehicle with its accompanying dangers, the courts have realized that a strict application of the doctrine of respondeat superior in the modern commercial world would result in great injustice .... It is now held by the greаt weight of authority that a master will not be held responsible for negligent operation of a servant’s automobile, even though engaged at the time in furthering the master’s business unless the master expressly or impliedly consents to the use of the automobile, and ... had the right to control the servant in its operation, or else the use of the automobile was of such vital importance in furthering the master’s business that his contrоl over it might reasonably [be] inferred.”
Giant argues that it should not be liable to the Connorses for Oaks’ negligent driving while he was en route to his usual job site in his personal vehicle, еven though it required him to have the vehicle available for use during the work day. It contends that the theory of respondeat superior does not apply in this case because Oaks was not acting within the scope of his employment at the time of the accident. According to Giant, the case law makes clear that employees traveling to or from work in a personal vehicle are acting for their own purposes and, therefore, their employers should not be held liable for their actions during this time.
It is undisputed that while Giant required Oaks to have a vehicle available for use in the execution of his duties, he was not actually performing any of his designated job responsibilities at the time of the accident. While driving to work, Oaks was not furthering any business purpose of Giant; his job assignments were limited to either fulfilling security-related duties at the Jessup facility or guarding ATM machines at various Giant stores as they were being serviced. He was accomplishing neither of these tasks at the time of the accident. Moreover, Oaks’ work day did not even begin until he arrived at Jessup, punched in, and received his daily work assignment; the accident occurred before the time that Oaks was scheduled to start work on July 5.
Furthermore, Giant exerted no control over thе method or means by which Oaks operated his vehicle. It did not supply
The Connorses argue that Oaks was in fact executing his duties for Giant at the time of the accident because he was transporting to the job site a vehicle which Giant required him to have available for use in the course of his employment. The Connorses seek to analogize this situation to that involved in the workers’ compensation case of Alitalia v. Tornillo,
III.
A claim for loss of consortium arises from the loss of society, affection, assistance, and conjugal fellowship suffered by the marital unit as a result of the physical injury to one
Maryland’s caр on noneconomic damages is codified as § 11-108; it provides that “[i]n any action for damages for personal injury ..., an award for noneconomic damages may not exceed $350,000.” § 11—108(b). It further states: “ ‘Non-economic damages’ means pain, suffering, inconvenience, physical impairment, disfigurement, loss of consortium, or other nonpecuniary injury” and “does not include punitive damages.”
Oaks argues that both the plain meaning of the language of § 11-108 and its legislative history show that the Gеneral Assembly intended for a single cap to apply to the individual claim of an injured person and a loss of consortium claim by the marital unit, which is derivative therefrom. He contends that including “loss of consortium” within the § 11— 108(a) definition of noneconomic damages evidences this legislative intent. He further asserts that the ruling of the Court of Special Appeals in this case effectively doubles the amount of noneconomic damages recoverable in a personal injury action with a consortium claim, thereby frustrating the Legislature’s purpose in enacting § 11-108. We agree.
The cardinal rule of statutory interpretation is to ascertain and effectuate the intention of the legislature. Fish Market v. G.A.A.,
There is no indication in the literal language of § 11-108 that the Legislature intended to allow a separate cap for a
Further evidence that a single cap was intended is the language of § 11—108(b), which clearly states: “In any action for damages for personal injury ..., an award for noneconomic damages may not exceed $350,000.” (emphasis added) The ordinary meaning of this language is that in each personal injury action, which includes the injured individual’s underlying claim for damages along with all claims arising therefrom, a single award {“an award”) of noneconomic damages should be made and should be subject to the statutory cap.
Finally, reviewing the statutory scheme within which § 11— 108 was enacted, we note that § 11—109(b) states: “As part of the verdict in any action for damages for personal injury ..., the trier of fact shall itemize the award to reflect the monetary amount intended for: (1) Past medical expenses; (2) Future medical expenses; (3) Past loss of eаrnings; (4) Future loss of earnings; (5) Noneconomic damages; and (6) Other damages.” The fact that the Legislature was so methodical in its requirements for the itemization of damage awards, and yet still lumped all noneconomic damages into one category with no separate delineation for consortium versus non-consortium damages, is additional evidence that it intended for all noneconomic damages to be subject to a single cap.
The Connorses argue that the absence of statutory guidance as to the proper allocation of a noneconomic damage award between the injured spouse and the marital unit reveals that
The Connorses further contend that § 11-108 violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article 24 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights and infringes upon their right to a jury trial under Articles 5, 19, and 23 of the Declaration of Rights. We expressly rejected these constitutional arguments in Murphy v. Edmonds,
Finally, the Connorses assert that, although they must be adjudicated concurrently, a claim for loss of consortium by the marital unit is separate and distinct from any claim made by the injured spouse and, therefore, should have its own cap. We believe that damages to a marital relationship are frequently inextricably intertwined with the harm sustained by the injured spouse. As we held in Deems, “marital interests are in reality ... interdependent [and] injury to these interests is ... essentially incapable of separate evaluation as to the husband and wife.”
AS TO APPELLANT GIANT FOOD, INC., JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS VACATED; CASE REMANDED TO THAT COURT WITH DIRECTIONS TO AFFIRM THE JUDGMENT OF THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY IN FAVOR OF GIANT FOOD, INC.
AS TO APPELLANT WILLIE JAMES OAKS, THAT PART OF THE JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS AWARDING LOSS OF CONSORTIUM DAMAGES TO APPELLEES VACATED; CASE REMANDED TO THAT COURT WITH DIRECTIONS TO AFFIRM THAT PART OF THE JUDGMENT OF THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY DELETING IN ITS ENTIRETY THE AWARD OF LOSS OF CONSORTIUM DAMAGES TO APPELLEES.
COSTS IN THIS COURT AND IN THE COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS TO BE PAID BY APPELLEES.
Notes
. Unless otherwise indicated, all statutory references are to the Courts Article.
. The driver of the van, Martha Marris, and her husbаnd also sued Oaks for their injuries resulting from the accident; however, the Marrises' claims are not involved in this appeal.
. The evidence in the record establishes that Oaks was not entitled to travel expense reimbursement on July 5. Giant’s clearly-stated policy on the date of the accident in question reads as follows:
"For associates regularly traveling for Giant (an average of two or more days а week) you may report the mileage from your nearest Giant store, all business mileage in between, plus mileage back to the originating nearest store. An assignment to one location for more than two months does not constitute travel; it is a commuting expense, and may not be claimed for mileage reimbursement.”
As an ATM Sergeant, Oaks traveled regularly between stores for Giant and, therefore, qualified for travel mileage reimbursement from his home store to his initial reporting location, Jessup, for the first two months that he was assigned there; however, because Oaks began reporting to Jessup as an ATM Sergeant on April 17, 1989, his entitlement to reimbursement for his daily commute there ended on June 17, 1989, several weeks before the accident in question. Even assuming that Oaks was entitled to travel reimbursement on July 5, 1989, the case law shоws that such an entitlement does not of itself create respondeat superior liability in Giant. See Dhanraj v. Potomac Elec. Power Co.,
. According to Maryland Rule 2-519(b), when a motion for judgment is made after the close of the plaintiffs’ case in a jury trial, the court must consider all evidence and inferences in the light most favorable to the party against whom the motion is made.
. The Connorses elected this resolution in response to the court’s order that their aggregate noneconomic damages award be reduced by $130,-000 to comply with § 11-108.
. In 1994, the General Assembly revised § 11-108. The new amendments, one of which raised the statutory limit on noneconomic damages to $500,000, went into effect on October 1, 1994 and thus are not directly applicable in the instant case. ch. 477 of the Acts of 1994. The 1994 revision also clarified that the cap was to apply in wrongful death actions. Finally, it stated that the new cap "shall apply in a personal injuiy action to each direct victim of tortious conduct and all persons who claim injury by or through that victim.” § 11-108(b)(3).