Citizens Gas & Electric Co. v. Black

Citations

• 95 Ohio St. (N.S.) 42

Syllabus

<p>Corporations — Liable for agent's slander, when — Managing agent is alter ego of company, when — Scope of employment — Authorisation and ratification.</p> <p>1. A corporation is liable for slander uttered by its local managing agent while acting within the scope of his employment and in the performance and furtherance of his principal’s business, touching the matter in which he was empowered to act.</p> <p>2. A local managing agent of a corporation, to whom has been entrusted the control of its local business of distributing gas and electricity in a city and the adjustment and settlement of accounts arising from leakage on the premises of its con- , sumers, is, in that connection, the alter ego of the company; and slanderous words spoken by him in the prosecution and furtherance of the business, which are unprovoked and not due merely to personal malice, are within the scope of his employment and his principal is liable therefor although it ' has neither authorized nor ratified the agent’s act.</p>