Employee Broker Not Vicariously Liable for Torts of Co-Employee Salesperson

   A licensed real estate broker, who is the designated officer for a corporate broker pursuant to Business and Professions Code section 10159.2, is not vicariously liable under traditional agency principles to a third-party for failure to supervise a co-employee salesperson.

   The employer corporation may be vicariously liable, but not the individual officer. In order to prevail on a claim which subjects the designated officer to personal liability, the liability must be direct or the result of a principal-agent relationship apart from the statutory supervisory duty contained in section 10159.2. Sandler v. Sanchez.

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