Rental company not liable for customer with suspended license

A car rental company is not liable for an accident caused by a customer with a suspended license, the Mississippi Supreme Court has ruled.

A woman rented a car from an Enterprise Rent-a-Car branch and produced an unexpired driver's license. Although the employee who handled the transaction followed procedures, the renter's license had been suspended.

The next day, the renter ran a stop sign and drove into another vehicle. The driver of the other car suffered leg injuries and sued the renter and Enterprise, alleging negligence per se for renting a car to someone with an invalid driver's license.

But the court affirmed summary judgment for Enterprise.

"Enterprise was not negligent per se because the statute only places a burden on rental car companies to accept facially valid, unexpired driver's licenses. We are satisfied that the intent of the statute was that rental car companies were to comply with [state law] by fulfilling their responsibilities [to check signatures and keep rental records]. The Mississippi legislature set forth its required procedure in the statute, and Enterprise complied with that procedure. We thus find this issue to be without merit," the court said.

It cited similar decisions from state courts in Louisiana, Maryland and Massachusetts, as well as a 4th Circuit decision interpreting North Carolina law.

Cousin v. Enterprise Leasing Co. (Lawyers USA No. 9934724) Mississippi Supreme Court No. 2006-CA-00478-SCT. Nov. 30, 2006.