Legal Definitions - exclusive agency

Exclusive control is a legal concept primarily used within the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur, a Latin phrase meaning "the thing speaks for itself." This doctrine allows a court to infer negligence when an accident occurs under circumstances where it would not ordinarily happen without someone's carelessness, and the defendant had sole management and responsibility for the object or situation that caused the harm.

Therefore, exclusive control refers to a situation where a defendant was the only party with management and responsibility over the instrumentality (the object or situation) that caused an injury. This condition is crucial for the res ipsa loquitur doctrine to apply, as it helps establish that the defendant's negligence, rather than someone else's, was the most probable cause of the accident.

• Example 1: Surgical Error

  Imagine a patient undergoes a routine appendectomy. Weeks after the surgery, the patient experiences severe pain, and subsequent imaging reveals a surgical clamp was left inside their abdomen. During the surgery, the medical team (surgeons, nurses, and hospital staff) had exclusive control over the operating room, the patient's body, and all surgical instruments used. The patient was unconscious and had no control over the situation. Because the medical team had sole management of the instruments and the surgical procedure, the presence of the clamp strongly suggests their negligence, making it a clear instance of exclusive control.

• Example 2: Defective Elevator

  Consider a scenario where a tenant in an apartment building is injured when an elevator suddenly drops several floors before coming to an abrupt stop. The building management company is responsible for the maintenance and operation of all elevators in the building. They contract with an elevator service company for regular inspections and repairs. In this case, the building management and its contracted service provider would be considered to have exclusive control over the elevator's mechanical systems and safety features. The tenant, as a passenger, had no control over the elevator's operation or maintenance. The sudden malfunction, therefore, points to potential negligence on the part of those with exclusive control over the elevator.

• Example 3: Exploding Beverage Bottle

  Suppose a customer is shopping in a grocery store, and a sealed glass bottle of soda on a shelf suddenly explodes, causing a laceration to their arm. The beverage company that manufactured and bottled the soda, along with the distributor and the grocery store, would be considered to have had exclusive control over the product from its creation to its placement on the shelf. The customer had not touched or interfered with the bottle prior to the explosion. Since the bottle was sealed and under the sole management of the manufacturers and retailers until the incident, the explosion suggests a defect in manufacturing or handling that occurred while the product was under their exclusive control.