In a negligent entrustment/negligent hiring case against a company whose driver causes an auto accident, the driver’s immigration status is not admissible at trial to prove these causes of action against the company. TXI Transp. Co. v. Hughes, No. 07-0541 (Tex.2010). The Texas Supreme Court has held:
We have said a claim for negligent hiring or entrustment cannot lie if “[t]he risk that caused the entrustment to be negligent did not cause the collision,” and if a “defendant’s negligence did no more than furnish a condition which made the injury possible.” Here, Rodriguez’s immigration status did not cause the collision, and was not relevant to the negligent entrustment or hiring claims—even if TXI’s failure to screen, and thus its failure to discover his inability to work in the United States, “furnished [the] condition” that made the accident possible. We agree with the court of appeals “that neither Rodriguez’s status as an illegal alien or his use of a fake Social Security number to obtain a commercial driver’s license created a foreseeable risk that Rodriguez would negligently drive the gravel truck.”
(citations omitted).
