A Texas appeals court has ruled that volunteer firefighters are liable for accidents that occur when they are returning from calls in their private vehicles. Liability waiver laws only protect them when responding to a call.
The issue was tested in a lawsuit involving a case of a firefighter who struck a fire tanker and two firefighters while returning from a fire, killing one of his fellow firefighters, Fire Law Blog reports.
Firefighters Steven Paul Henderson and Robert Popp had pulled their engine to the side of the road to check its tires when they were struck by Firefighter John Weston Roades in 2019. Henderson died from his injuries.
Popp and Henderson’s family sued Roades for negligence. Roades’s lawyers argued the lawsuit should have been against the Louise Volunteer Fire Department, of which they were all members.
The court ruled, however, the suit against Roades can proceed because volunteer firefighters are only shielded from liability while heading to fires, not while returning. The suit can now proceed to trial if not further appealed.
