Laws vary from state to state, but in states that recognize a claim for negligent entrustment of a motor vehicle, the plaintiff generally must show that:
• the owner of the vehicle entrusted the vehicle to another person;
• the person to whom the motor vehicle was entrusted was an unlicensed, incompetent, or reckless driver;
• at the time of the entrustment, the owner of the motor vehicle knew or should have known that the person to whom the motor vehicle was entrusted was an unlicensed, incompetent, or reckless driver;
• the person to whom the motor vehicle was entrusted was negligent on the occasion in question; and
• the negligence of the person to whom the motor vehicle was entrusted proximately caused the accident.
Even the lack of a required legal license does not establish incompetence or recklessness. Whether a driver has a license does not determine whether a driver is in fact incompetent. Some incompetent drivers are licensed, and some competent drivers are unlicensed.
If a state’s statutes require an operator of a given motor vehicle to be legally licensed to operate it, then permitting the driver to operate it without a legal license may constitute negligence per se.
Although state laws require licensing to operate some motor vehicles (automobiles), they often do not require licensing to operate other motor vehicles (forklifts). In the absence of a licensing requirement, the plaintiff must show the defendant knew or should have known the operator of the motor vehicle was incompetent or reckless, not that he was uncertified or lacked formal training to operate the motor vehicle.
In New Hampshire, the concept of negligent entrustment of a motor vehicle is recognized under the common law. To establish a claim for negligent entrustment, a plaintiff must demonstrate that the vehicle's owner entrusted it to another person who was unlicensed, incompetent, or reckless, and that the owner knew or should have known of that person's inability to safely operate the vehicle at the time of entrustment. Additionally, it must be shown that the entrusted individual was negligent at the time of the accident and that this negligence was a proximate cause of the accident. In New Hampshire, simply lacking a legal license does not automatically prove incompetence or recklessness. The state requires drivers to be licensed for certain motor vehicles like automobiles, but not necessarily for others like forklifts. If a vehicle requires a legal license to operate and the owner allows an unlicensed individual to drive, this may constitute negligence per se. However, in cases where there is no licensing requirement, the plaintiff must prove the owner's actual or constructive knowledge of the driver's incompetence or recklessness.